A Sorcerer's Skill
by Literature work
Summary: Sequel to A Sorcerer's Science. Edward is sent back to Hogwarts with his country in complete chaos. Edward was having a hard time surviving the year, but now the school is packed with the Triwizard Tournament approaching. With Skeeter and Dragons on the loose, Edward finds that he probably bitten off more than he could chew. Reviews are welcome and story status updates on profile.
1. The Escape

**NOTICE! I have stretched the timeline of FMA to fit that of Harry Potter and will only be changing minor details here and there. Instead of it being three days wait until the Promise day, it will be almost a year. The promise day will happen on the Summer Solstis or what ever.**

**This is the Sequel to a Sorcerer's Science. I hope you enjoy it as much as the first one. This takes place during the fourth book of Harry Potter and volumes 19 in the manga, or basically right before Promise day.**

**I know it is a short chapter, but this is the introduction. I hope you all enjoy and comments or concerns are recommended. I will be happy to see how this turns out!**

A Sorcerer's Skill

CHAPTER 1

The Escape

"Hurry up! They're gaining on us!" Edward shouted as the car sped down the deserted streets of the Northern town.

"I am driving the best I can!" Darius shouted at him as he spun the wheel as hard as he could, zipping down a bare alleyway. The two military vehicles, horns blazed, were screaming at them as the car engines revved. Edward, who wasn't wearing a seat belt, smacked his head off of the side of the car as the gorilla man did another turn. He clutched his head in his hands protectively as he slid across the seat and hit the other side of the vehicle.

"You are a terrible driver!" the annoyed alchemist scolded the man.

"Hey! I would like to see you try!" he retorted. They spun around another block onto a straight away. There was absolutely no one in sight in the small town. The only thing that ridden the streets was the fresh few inches of snow that was always present.

"I am sixteen! I can't drive!" Edward argued. All of a sudden something appeared in the vacant street completely out of nowhere. On minute nothing, the next there was something. It faltered in the road a bit as if stunned in the high beams of their car. Of course they were in a direct collision course for it. Heinkel screamed as the figure took the shape of a human being.

"LOOK OUT!" he yelled. Darius was about to turn out of the way when Edward lunged forward out of his seat. He forced the man's foot on the break and pressed down as hard as he could.

"STOP THE CAR!" he shouted. The decelerating car swayed back and forth as the men tried to gain control of it. They could hear the sirens raging behind them. The person in the road jumped a few feet out of the way as the car lurched to a stop right where they used to be standing. Edward let go of Darius and kicked the door. He grabbed the strange dark robed man by the front shirt and dragged him into the car. He tumbled into the back seat with him and Edward slammed the door. Out the back window the military vehicles could be seen rising over the small hill.

"GO! DRIVE!" Edward shouted. Darius didn't need to be told twice and stepped on the gas pedal. They went zooming off into the streets again. They didn't have to look out the window to know that the military was right on their tail. "Turn here!" he commanded pointing out the window to an entrance of an alleyway. Darius faltered a bit.

"Are you sure?" Heinkel questioned as they speedily approached the upcoming side street.

"Turn or I will do it for you!" Edward retorted. Darius twisted the wheel and their car when spinning down the road. Edward slowly brought his hands together. "U-turn and stop!" he shouted. The gorilla followed and Edward was launched into the side of the car with the inertia. Ignoring his growing head pain he slammed his hands down on the car and alchemic electricity zapped about them. Everyone ducked down in their seats as they heard the military cars speed by them shouting something awful. When the roaring sirens depleted to a distant whine, Edward poked his eyes above the seat. He rubbed his aching head and checked to make sure that the coast was clear. Their once beautiful and luxurious car that they stole off of some rich lovers was turned into a gaudy dragon festival float on wheels complete with blaring read paint. It was a wonder how the esteemed military soldiers could bypass the display so easily. Edward turned his head to where the stranger was crumbled up in his seat and squashed under the weight of his automail.

"What are you doing here Severus!" Edward yelled at him. The gorilla and lion sat up in their chairs and looked back at them. Edward motioned for them to start the car up again. The potion's master sat up rubbing his sore head as the car was put into motion and the hum of the motor filled their minds with a bit of ease.

"And you say you aren't doing anything illegal," the man mumbled. His sleek black hair and robes stood all amiss from the kidnapping he had. It had been three months since Edward left Hogwarts for Briggs. He was forced into the position of their alchemy teacher by the Fuhrer and the Colonel. Severus over the course of the term managed to falsely accuse him of mutiny, and call him a fugitive of the state. Of course, Edward just couldn't believe that he eventually became one. Severus tried to straighten out his robes as they putted down the road. Heinkel and Darius forced Edward to change the car into something lest obnoxious. After they called his sense of fashion nonexistent, he clapped his hands and returned the vehicle into a model T.

"So who is he?" Heinkel said pointing his finger at the potion's master. Edward looked at the wizard and gave a loud exhausted sigh.

"Severus please explain why we almost hit you by the car. Why are you here?" Edward groaned.

"Edward, people have been sending owls and trying to get into contact with you for a month now. We even tried muggle mail and telephone but no answers. Here," Severus said taking out a giant pile of letters from his robes and tossing them to Edward. There were various envelopes signed by many different people; Arthur, Harry, and Dumbledore among them. "Your teaching assessment is in a few days. We need to get you back to London. I also think the Weasleys want to have a talk with you of some sort."

"I am kind of busy at the moment Severus. I can't just leave out of the blue to go gallivanting around Europe with a bunch of you people!" Edward argued.

"Teaching position?" Darius questioned.

"Owls?" Heinkel added.

"Oh, yeah, um…. Last year I was a teacher," Edward mumbled a bit. The two chimeras started to snicker at the idea. He glared at them through the rear view mirror to shut up. They didn't. Severus rolled his eyes at the mockery they were giving the kid.

"I am sure running from the military and a couple bullets is something that you can do outside the country," Severus said.

"You came at a really bad time," Edward growled at him. "There's more going on than that." The car lurched and charged over a huge bump. Everyone was thrown about in the back seat. Edward smacked his head off of the ceiling and came crashing back down. He let out a small yelp as his recent surgery came back to haunt him. They only stayed at the doctor's office for five days before the military came by to find them.

"Besides," Edward groaned as he clutched his aching side. "I am in no condition to travel anywhere."

"Then what are you doing in a car?" Severus snapped. Heinkel and Darius made some unnecessary comments that Edward decided to tune out. "Where are we going exactly?" Both of the chimeras shrugged in answer.

"Your call Elric," Darius said.

"I know exactly what to do."

…..

Edward's head was getting worst every moment. He got hit by the Chimeras in the car, Severus decided to give him a few persuading smacks, and Winry thought it was a good idea to give every male in the facility a good beating when she found them all in her room. His headaches were coming in like firestorms.

Edward was laying down on a work bench face up as Winry worked on his automail. When he said tune up she always found a way to turn it into a full scale construction plan. Not allowing his feet any leeway when it came to the length of the table, his head was hung upside down off of the side instead of his toes. Though he was forced to take off his pants, he was relieved when she told him he could at least keep his tank and boxers on. She was working diligently on his leg while he stared at the crowded work room the blood slowly rushing to his head. Darius and Heinkel were skimming through the waiting room magazines and soon, to his dismay, found their way into his overly large pile of missing mail. Severus was picking up several of his own and was waving it in Edward's face for him to read in hope that his intentions of staying home that year might change. They weren't.

"Edward, you need to come back for the next school year. When Dumbledore sent me here to get you I didn't really have an option to come back empty handed," Severus snarled at him. Edward winced as Winry tightened a bolt.

"I can't Severus! My country is in a crisis! I also need to find my brother. He could be lost or captured or something. I need to find him!" Edward complained. Winry gave him a good smack on the head as she started on his arm.

"Have faith in Alphonse, Edward! He is with Mr. Miles. He will be fine," she assured him as she tightened a bolt a little too tight. Edward yelped and she quickly loosened it. "I met your father in Reole. They are starting to rebuild there. He said something about moving North on business matters."

"Well, nice to know," Edward grumbled in deep sarcasm. She just gave him another smack upside the head. Severus crouched down to his eye level where his head was hanging off of the table and stared into his eyes crudely.

"So now that your little problem is cleaned up, you will be coming back to school," Severus commanded him. Edward blew some stray hair out of his face and sent a scowl in his direction.

"Like I said, my country is in a crisis. I just found out some important information. This country is going to explode by next summer. I need to fight for it," he told the wizard off.

"You aren't going to be doing anyone a favour by fighting with that hole in your gut," Heinkel said from across the room.

"Hey! You keep out of this!" Edward retorted just to get hit by Winry again.

"What hole in your gut? You weren't hurt were you! I shouldn't have left you alone back there! I knew something like this was going to happen! Why don't you take better care of yourself!" she scolded him as he cradled his newly born cranial injury.

"I think I should start taking care of myself better by hiding all of your wrenches!" he whined. Edward looked up to where Winry was hunched over his metal arm. She was adjusting a few holdings and her hair fell obscuring her face. He let out a sigh. "Winry, you and Granny should think about feeling the country. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Ed!" Winry said purposely misplacing a holding that sent a bolt up his arm. "I am not moving! I am staying here. Whatever is supposed to happen, won't because you are going to stop it. I also am not going to let such a beautiful piece of automail go to waste because you thought it better for me to leave!" She quickly bolted the coverings and plates back down and set down her tools in a huff.

"I for one, think that you should go back to that school," Winry said wiping her greasy hands on her apron. Edward slowly sat up, his arm and leg a little sore, and stared at where she was cleaning everything up. Severus gave him a starchy smile as if to say 'I told you so'. Edward glared at him. "I mean, I don't know. This big thing, you said wouldn't happen till the early summer. Your father wanted to help fight as well and he is up there looking for some aid. I don't think it is all a bad idea."

"Well, my father can search all he likes up there, but as for me, I need to stay down here," Edward argued.

"Edward, think about it," Severus said. "You are injured, you have plenty of time to do research and strengthen yourself, and we have means of protecting you until the time has come for you to go back. If anything goes a rye we can sent you back within the minute with port key." Edward looked between his two friends. Their determined faces were unyielding. Blue and black eyes stared back at him, not to mention his two chimera allies were making remarks about the logic as well. Edward growled to himself as he tried to fight the pressure they were all pushing on him.

"Fine!" Edward said getting up off of the work bench and slamming his fist to the table. "But any sign of danger Winry, and you leave! I mean it!" He glared at his longtime friend. He wanted to make sure she was going to do it. She had to promise. Her head slowly nodded and she threw him into a hug.

"Thankyou!" she cried. Edward's face grew bright red. He hastily pushed her off of him.

"F-For what?" he replied a bit startled.

"You never really took my advice before." With that, she sprinted off rather hastily to the kitchen leaving a rather befuddled Elric in her wake. Severus gave a sly smile.

"I think you will be wanting a few more check-ups from the way these turn out," Severus said as he handed Edward his missing pants. He took them a little angry and even redder in the face.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he muttered.

…..

"Okay, you two keep safe. Make sure that no one finds you or anything," Edward waved as he said goodbye to Darius and Heinkel. Seeing as Edward wasn't able to drag them along to Hogwarts with him, they decided to leave and help out back up North. Winry closed the door behind the chimeras as they escaped the small town of Resembool under the mask of the night. Severus sat at the dinner table slowly eating a bowl of delicious stew that Winry made for evening meal. It was the only way that Edward would eat milk and she knew it so she made sure to double the servings. His things, though few, were already packed back inside of the duffle he borrowed from Havoc last year and were sitting down at the bottom of the staircase ready to leave. He made sure to pack some extra oil this time, as advised by Severus, so that he wouldn't run out again.

"So, Elric, when do you want to leave?" the potion's master asked after a good spoonful of stew was happily swallowed. Edward got up and looked out the window for a bit. Winry followed his gaze as well to the distant hilltop.

"Edward, it is too risky with everyone looking for you, even in the dark. It will be a dead giveaway," she told him. Edward sighed and took another spoonful of soup.

"I guess you're right, can you go say bye to her for me?" Edward pleaded her. She nodded.

"How about I take some flowers as well in the morning? I will go see Mom and Dad as well," she said. Edward smiled her and turned his head back to Severus who turned out to be watching intently.

"So where are we going first?"

…..


	2. Friends and Families

**Okay, I wanted to post this sooner, but I couldn't find a nice place to stop so I continued on until I did. It is pretty long, but I hope you like it. I thank everyone for the reviews. I like it that you put both good and bad things down so that I can see how things turn out. Constructive criticism. I like it. **

**Okay another reason why I am late with the chapter is because I am finally attempting to crochet a blanket, and guess what it is going to look like? Flamel symbol yes! I was just so excited I couldn't put the hook down until I ran out of yearn :( Anyway, Enjoy the chapter! **

**NOTE. For anyone who is looking for character cameos, I am waiting until Hogwarts to bring them in, but there will be a lot. I mean a lot. Just hope you can wait until then!**

CHAPTER 2

Friends and Families

Edward landed in a dimly lit alley way somewhere in outside of London. It was the early evening here from the time difference and the sun was turning the sky a dull pink colour. Severus was able to knick a spoon from Winry's kitchen drawer to use as a port key. Edward wanted him to use one of her wrenches to lighten her ammunition a bit, but he refused. He guessed it was because Severus didn't want to get hit himself. Edward's injured side hurt from the travel but it wasn't anything to be complaining about. Wizard transportation was definitely not one of his favorite ways to travel.

The wizard put his magic stick away in the pocket of his robes and pulled out a small brown wrapped package for Edward. It was his amulet. He nearly forgot about how he had to wear women's jewelry in order to get past all of the enchantments thrown about the Wizarding world. Muggles, like him, had a hard time surviving alongside of wizards without some counter enchantments to work in their benefit. Edward still wondered why Dumbledore chose a muggle, him of all people, to teach at a magic school. Unfortunately, whatever the elderly wizard was thinking about at that time it wasn't helping him one bit. Edward slipped the red amulet around his neck and he felt the tingly sensation it brought him.

"What are we doing here?" Edward asked Severus as he casually popped his head around the corner of the building to see the empty and sunny streets. The wizard immediately grabbed him by the coat and pulled him back into the dark alley way. He rummaged through his robes and pulled out a couple of Edward's letters he saved and handed it to them.

"You are going to stay with the Weasleys until the School year. They are picking up Harry tomorrow so I am sending you there to rendezvous with them."

"How do you know all of this?" Edward asked him grabbing the letters. The man smacked him over the head.

"I actually read the mail," Severus sneered. He leaned around the corner to check if the coast is clear and pulled out his wand. "Edward, your assessment is on the 20th make sure you are at the Ministry of Magic on time. There is a folder with all of your papers included."

"Heesh, Severus," Edward smiled at him as he started to sift through the pile of papers. "You could have just told me it was all here."

"Well, there was the question of whether you would read them or not," Severus snarled back. Edward fumed at him but the man cut him off. "Harry's house is number four, Private Drive. It should be a few blocks away from here. Make sure you come to school in one piece Edward." Before he could say anything there was a loud crack and Severus disappeared. He looked around but knew that it was pointless. The man was long gone. Edward hated spontaneous wizarding transportation, it was more annoying than useful. He stuffed the papers back in his duffle bag and stepped out into the empty streets. He saw a sign that said Little Whingings General Store. He let out a sigh and walked towards it, might as well get a map.

Edward walked around the village for almost an hour before he came upon a house labeled number four. The short walk, as Severus put it, was nearly fifteen streets away and on the other side of a Calder patch. He ended up having to run through peoples yards and ruin a couple bushes of hydrangeas just to avoid adding another mile to his hike. For the town itself, Edward thought it wasn't bad in a sense of community, but it was very repetitive. The houses were symmetrical and nearly identical with small perfectly cut lawns in the front. The park which he had to run across to get to the road was small and needed some repairs as it looked like all the swings were broken off. Number four, was no exception from any of the other houses except for the fact that it was overly ordinary. Almost like a picture book. The perfectly trimmed rows of flowers were lining the windows and a door was lit by a porch light that seemed to never flicker or fade. Edward checked the address one last time and headed up the little walk way.

A long thin woman and a pudgy round man opened the door only a couple seconds after he knocked. It startled him a bit that they were that fast at answering. The two of them, though perfectly contradictory looked as if they came out of a home and gardens magazine themselves. Their clothes were so perfectly ironed and clean that Edward wondered if they were fresh from the manufacturer literally hot off the belt. The three of them stood there for a while just staring at each other in the longest awkward silence ever. The two house owners were giving him very judgmental looks as well. He guessed that it had to do with the fact that he was only a poorly dressed strange teenager with a duffle bag standing on their porch wanting to be let in. After a few more seconds of the intimidating stare down, Edward cleared his throat.

"Are you the….. Doorslieess?" he asked checking one of the papers he was given. The two them looked at each other questionably and then back at him.

"It is the Dursleys," the man addressed.

"That's what I said," Edward waved them off. He held out his hand to them. "I am Edward Elric, Harry's teacher; someone said that you were expecting me?" The man and woman didn't shake his hand, instead they looked at it rather dejectedly. The woman turned her nose up at it while the man growled at him. Was it something he said?

"We weren't expecting you till tomorrow," the man barked.

"Well, unfortunately due to some certain issues, you got me today," Edward replied as he slowly put his unshaken had back down. The man eyed him for a few more seconds while he waited for them to do something. He slowly hobbled away from the door and the woman hustled Edward into the small two story house closing the door behind him.

"We are having dinner in a few minutes," Petunia, as he now knew she was called, said as she lead him down the small hallway into the wide open living room. Edward shook his head as he looked about the place. He secretly wondered how no only one overly sized man could fit in the small house, but two. On the couch sat a younger, but not much smaller, version of Vernon Dursley. The boy was a whale laying there as he watched television and stuffed his face with carrots. He guessed they were putting the boy on a diet limiting him to only one twenty pound bag of vegetables for an evening snack. The boy looked up at him a little startled to see a stranger in his house. Some of the carrots fell out of his mouth as he looked over to the kitchen where his mom was cooking for an explanation.

"Dudley, that is Edward Elric, Harry's teacher," Petunia said with a little discomfort. The boy gaped at him and let out a little whimper. Edward noticed that he was casually protecting his backside from him but his pudgy hands were too small to cover the continent that made up his posterior. Edward smiled at him but the kid leapt up and scurried away to the kitchen still protecting himself. With nothing short of a warm welcome, Edward plopped himself down on the couch and tossed his duffle bag at his feet. He saw that the fireplace was boarded up and they had a weird electric fire instead. Other than the strange boards over the mantel, it was a pretty nice house though it seemed obsessively clean.

"Harry! Get down here! Someone's here for you!" Vernon yelled upstairs rather obnoxiously. Edward heard the corresponding pound of footsteps as they raced down the stairs. Harry came bolting out of the hallway and into the kitchen.

"Are they here? Are they here?" Harry asked wildly whipping his head around probably searching the red headed mob that was the Weasleys.

"Unfortunately just the one," the man growled as he pointed a stubby finger to where Edward was sitting. Harry looked over and saw him. Though it seemed he was disappointed, his face was definitely brighter than what the Dursleys have given him. Petunia set a dish down on the table and motioned for everyone to sit down at the table. Though Edward already ate a few hours ago, he sat down with them to be polite. It looked like the meal was only made out of salad and light lean beef. These men were definitely on diets. Edward watched as they slowly began to fill their plates.

"Edward, I didn't think that you were coming back this year," Harry said as he spooned a grateful amount of veggies onto his plate. He was the first teenager who Edward ever saw who wanted to eat broccoli.

"I wasn't but a few friends convinced me otherwise," Edward laughed a bit passing the plate over to Dudley. The boy took it rather cautiously. There was a long silence and clattering of utensils. Edward could hear the dog barking a few blocks down. He only knew it was there because it tried to tackle him when he ran through their yard.

"So Mr. Doorsliieee, what do you do for work?" Edward asked breaking the unbearable silence. The man looked a little taken aback by his sudden question. He fumbled a bit and nearly dropped his fork to the floor.

"I-I am the director of Grunnings," he stumbled. "It's Dursley."

"Well, that seems interesting. Surely gets the bills paid for I see. You have a very nice house," Edward flattered them. Vernon's face flickered a grin before it was quickly wiped off. "What do you like to do, Mrs. Doorsliee?"

"I-I like to garden, my dear, and it's Dursley," she said quickly and sternly. Edward slowly nodded his head as he took in the tension of the room. The air was so stiff it would break the knife if he would try to cut it.

"My friend has a garden, but she is more of a gear head than a gardener. She can't seem to get away from machines and stuff," Edward replied. The Dursleys seemed to lighten up just ever so slightly, but they were still completely tongue tied. He looked to Harry for help but he shrugged with no answer. Edward let out a little sigh and poured himself a glass of water from the pitcher on the table. When he reached forward, Dudley flinched and his hands flew to his posterior again. Edward was so confused. He heard a snicker come from Harry and looked over to him questionably but still no answer.

"Boy, how old are you?" Vernon asked with a little more confidence. Edward sat the pitcher down and took a sip of his water.

"Sixteen," Edward answered, "but I am an expert in my subject." He tried to avoid the commonly asked question of his age ability. It always leads to the word… little.

"And what is it exactly that you teach?" Petunia asked skeptically. She didn't look like she wanted an answer but she asked anyway.

"Alchemy, the science of reconstructing chemical compounds into new forms," Edward said. Dudley as well as Vernon and Petunia looked absolutely muddled. He glanced over to Harry. "Do you not have this in your country?" he asked quietly. Harry shook his head.

"You are able to turn one thing into another as long as it has similar properties or elements. Metal to gold, grass to bread, it is al basic chemistry," he cleared for them. "I think your son would have taken that class by now right?" Edward asked. Dudley nodded his head slowly. Vernon looked rather happy at the mention of gold. Petunia slapped the look off of his face though.

"Our son doesn't mix himself with the likes of your kind," she defended. Edward was completely confused.

"What?"

"My son is normal; he doesn't learn crazy nonsense like Harry does. We are normal," Petunia said snottily. Edward glanced at Harry for help.

"They don't really like magic or anything that we do," he whispered. The Dursleys obviously had several prejudices against him that he didn't know about. They loathed and feared magic and somehow assumed that he was a wizard himself.

"Mrs. Doorsliee I think you didn't understand me right," Edward said sternly. "I do not teach magic. I can't even do magic myself. Alchemy isn't magic at all, it is a science. What I meant was that chemistry as well as physics is all that anyone really needs to do it. I just thought that Dudley was of age to take that class." Vernon leaned over and covered Dudley's ears whenever he said the word magic. It was weird. Edward looked over at Harry who was eating his dinner rather happily. So this was normal?

"It is Dursley!" Petunia snipped. "I don't mind you staying the night as long as you take Harry and all of your things with you when you leave! I don't want our poor boy's mind being corrupted by your crazy and insane ideas! You call it science, I call it the devil's work!" Edward took her shot quietly and took a sip of his water. She was so deaf she couldn't hear honest logic if it was ringing in her ears. He smiled a bit crudely at them. By this time, Vernon let go of his son and they were all back their proper places.

"Well, I guess I shall take Harry with me then. I don't want _his_ brilliant mind becoming anything like that whale you call a son. It might do you three well to listen to the boy once in a while and learn something called ethics. Mrs. Doorsliee, I expect better hospitality when Arthur Weasley comes over tomorrow. Treat others the way you want to be treated, and I definitely don't think that you want to upset a wizard," Edward smiled. The hosts were completely and utterly insulted. Vernon turned a dangerous shade of purple while Petunia seething in anger. Dudley turned white and clutched his massive behind even tighter in his hands. Edward really didn't want to be rude, but it was needed and turned out better than he thought. He downed his water and checked his pocket watch. "Well, if that is all the conversation we have for tonight, I will like to head off to bed."

He stood up, and Harry along with him, scurried off upstairs to the bedrooms. Edward was half relieved that they didn't kick him out on the streets for what he said. He just couldn't keep them in. He was glad to see that Harry was at least smiling at him. Harry took his duffle bag to the first room up the stairs. Edward could hear the quiet and terrified voices of the Dursleys coming below.

It was a small room, and it only had one bed which looked like Harry's. He said that the guest room wasn't made up so he was going to have to sleep on the floor. Luckily Harry had a sleeping bag with him so Edward wasn't fully on his own. After the beds were made up and Edward took off his jackets to get ready for bed, they heard footsteps march up the stairs. The Dursleys went to their rooms and individually slammed their doors shut rather loudly. Harry beamed down at Edward from his bed.

"That was brilliant. I haven't got a laugh like that all summer," he smiled picking up a pile of random papers from his desk.

"Yeah, what I want to know why that Dudley kid was holding his butt all the time. Is there something wrong with him?" Edward asked as he stretched out on the long sleeping bag. He heard Harry give a tiny almost silent snicker.

"The last time they had contact with the wizarding world was when Hagrid came to pick me up. Dudley ended up sprouting a pig's tail before we left," Harry said. Edward looked at him to see if he was serious; deadly.

"You guys sure know how to make an impression," Edward muttered. He crossed his arms behind his head and let out a long tired yawn. It wasn't even that late out, but he was bushed. He closed his eyes and breathed out a deep sigh.

"Edward?" Harry's soft voice came.

"Hmm?" he mumbled. Lingering between the state of consciousness and not.

"Hedwig couldn't find you when I sent a letter. What were you doing this summer?" Harry asked him. Edward let out a deep breath of air and looked up at him through one eye. His hand subconsciously moved down to his injured side. It still ached but at least he wasn't dead. Edward sighed and turned over away from Harry.

"Nothing fun," he answered. Harry didn't seem to like this answer, but he didn't push the matter. Edward heard the click of the lamp and they were plunged into the darkness of the room. It was only his first day back in Europe and Edward secretly wanted to return to the war ridden home he had left. Wizards are too nosy for their own good.

…

Edward was nearly kicked in the head the next morning when Harry bolted up out of bed to get ready for the Weasley's visit. He obviously didn't like staying at the Dursleys because his trunk was already stuffed with all of his clothes and books and was tossed carelessly at the door of the room. Edward yawned and stretched out as Harry ran around collecting a few forgotten socks. He was not a morning person.

"Harry, keep it down a bit," Edward mumbled as he tried to get cozy again, stuffing his head back down into his pillow. Harry yanked the fluffy thing right out from underneath him and took the casing off of it. Edward's head smacked the wooden floor and he rubbed his new ache.

"Come on Edward! Get up! We are going to the Burrow today!" he shouted. As he grabbed Hedwig's cage the bird let out a ruffled squawk.

"What the hell is a burrow?" Edward grumbled as he slowly stood up and stretched out his back.

"It is what they call their house," Harry noted. Edward grabbed his jackets off of the floor and slipped his red coat on. Harry finished packing while Edward slipped his shoes on and stuffed the few things he had into his bag. He rolled up the sleeping bag so that Harry wouldn't have to worry about it and shoved it back into the small closet in the room. Harry was stumbling with his own shoe laces as Edward walked over to go look out the window. It was a clear and early morning, the grass was crisp and sparkled with dew. He opened the window a bit to get some air into the stuffy room and breathed it in. He hated staying inside.

"Hey, Harry," Edward said peering down the empty streets of the picturesque town of Little Whinging, "the Weasleys know how to get here right?" The boy nodded and stood up in his newly booted feet. He grabbed his wand and put it in his pocket.

"Yeah they came here on my second year to get me to school," he answered. "I don't know how they are coming though. Definitely not in the car I can tell you that."

"I am sure they'll find some way to pop in and scare everyone," Edward said with a little smile just thinking of the Dursleys fright. He and Harry went downstairs to get some breakfast while they waited for the red heads to arrive. Edward felt completely under dressed as he saw the Dursleys coming down the stairs in their Sunday best. Petunia was in a floral dress while the men were both wearing matching sweater vests, probably the same size. Edward was just wearing his normal black combat attire and red coat. He guessed that they were just dressing up to make an impression. Hopefully Arthur wouldn't stay long enough to actually realize their true nature. Mr. Weasley was an overly happy man and Edward really didn't want to see him insulted.

They all ate breakfast in silence as they waited for the clock to strike twelve. Vernon was very stiff as he tried to eat his grape fruit without glancing at the door too many times. Edward poked at his grapefruit and poured a few spoons of sugar over it before digging in. Dudley wasn't allowed sugar and ended up throwing half of his fruit to Harry, who took it thankfully. When the time came that their friends should be arriving, the Dursleys shifted to the door to wait for them. It was as if they staged this whole thing, Edward thought, just to make them look like a snapshot family. It was weird.

A few minutes pass twelve and the Weaseys still weren't there. Vernon took to pacing the hallways while Edward and Harry waited patiently for them to come. They took to a game of playing poker from a deck of cards Edward found lying mysteriously in his duffle bag. He bet it was from Pinako.

"Where are they?" Vernon seethed. "Bloody Wizards, can't even show up on-"

CRASH! Puffs of soot started to flow out of the boarded up fireplace and their cards flew everywhere. Edward spun around from where he was sitting and heard the strained yelp of none other than Mr. Weasley. There was suddenly another crash and a few more cries.

"No, no! George you need to go back! Something's wrong, we must have made a mistake go tell Fred to-" There was another loud bang coming from inside the fireplace and they heard a few more complaints. The Dursleys came running into the living room to see what the matter was, but all they found were Harry and Edward staring strangely at the hearth.

"Arthur, w-what are you doing in there?" Edward finally called out once when another crash came in and he heard Ron's strangled voice coming out through the boards. He walked over to the fireplace and carefully looked at it. There was no way four people could fit in the small thing.

"Edward! You're here! I am so glad to – Ouch! Fred!" Arthur cried.

"Edward," he heard George say as his twin shut their father's rambling up, "is there something blocking the fireplace? Can you move it? It is getting cramped in here." He heard a few more complaints come from the other occupants and some shuffling.

"It is boarded up," Harry said to them as he too joined his side at the place.

"Harry! How are you- OW!" Arthur whined again.

"Can you unboard it? We can't go back, there isn't a fire," Fred said. There was some more scuttling and Arthur's voice called out again.

"I will get it. I will blow the boards off, Edward, Harry, you might want to stand back," he said.

"NO!" Edward shouted. "Arthur, don't blow the place apart!" He quickly clapped his hands and placed them on the wood. The boards lazily compacted and four red heads came tumbling out of the hearth and onto the clean carpets. They were covered in old soot and their faces were all smudged. They all groaned as they stood up and stretched out. Each took in the house with mixed feelings of amazement and curiosity.

"Hey, Harry, where is your trunk?" Fred asked as they started to spread out from the hearth leaving little black footprints where they walked. He could tell that the twins were pacing around on purpose just to make the perfectly white carpets all dirty. Harry pointed them upstairs and the two of them immediately bolted for his room. Arthur was bent down over the electric fireplace looking at the plug with extreme interest.

"Arthur, what are you doing?" Edward asked him as the man unplugged the fireplace to study it more.

"What an amazing piece of machinery," he heard the man mutter to himself. Edward rolled his eyes and dragged the filthy man away from the electronic and back into the presence of the other living beings.

"Arthur, these are the Doorsliees," Edward said waving a hand mockingly to the family sitting on the couch. They were all frightened and completely flabbergasted from the entrance, neither one of them was talking. Arthur waved to them innocently and held out his hand for them to shake, but of course they didn't take it.

"Well, it sure is a marvelous place you have here, Mr. Doorsliee," Arthur smiled at him looking about the place. "An ekelecterik fireplace! I am amazed at what you people come up with. I collect plugs myself, but I still haven't seen anything so advanced- well, aside from Edward's arm of course."

"Don't go bringing up my arm like that!" Edward scolded the man. The Durleys were looking at Arthur like he was mad. Edward could see his point of view, but it also looked like Arthur thought they were the same as well. The way Dudley kept grasping his backside made everyone wonder if there was something seriously wrong with him.

Arthur was still carrying on his own one-sided conversation with the Dursleys when the twins came back down carrying the trunk and his duffle bag, their dirty foot prints still trailing behind them. "Alright George, you go with the trunk," Arthur said fumbling about in his robes for something.

"Oh! Hold on!" Fred cried as a bag of sweets fell to the floor scattering the delicacies around on the dirtied carpet. Edward noticed that one of them accidentally dropped a piece of candy on the floor. Dudley was looking at it rather longingly. Oh, no. Before the fat boy could make a move for it, Edward snatched it off of the ground and shoved it into his pocket. Wizard candy was nothing to mess with. The twins and Dudley both looked very disappointed that their sweets were taken. He glared at the two red heads. They dropped it on purpose. He turned to Arthur to see if he noticed but he was preparing a fire in the place with his wand.

Arthur fumbled a bit as he tossed a bag of strange green powder to Ronald. He turned around and tipped his hat at the family. "Hope you have a nice evening Mr. and Mrs. Doorsliee." With a flick of some powder the brilliant red flames turned green. One by one, the wizards shot up the chimney in a puff of green soot. Edward managed to grab his duffel off of the trunk George was trying to shove up the chimney and slung it around his shoulders. Even seeing it with his own eyes he wouldn't have believed that everyone could have fit up the tiny fireplace. Edward looked at the bag of green powder very skeptically but before he could grab any the bag was taken from him.

"No, no, Edward. You can't use the floo network remember the ministry banned you from it," Arthur said. He passed the bag off to Harry and the boy took a hand full.

"Well, bye," Harry announced his leaving to the Dursleys. Both the family and Potter looked rather overjoyed in his leaving. They didn't say anything as Harry entered the hearth. Arthur looked rather upset that they had no concern over Harry's well being. Edward stopped him before he said anything to them about parenting. He shook his head, the Dursleys wouldn't be changed. A few seconds later Harry was thrown up the chimney.

"I will get you a portkey and then apparate after you," Arthur noted brushing off the rash behavior of the Dursleys. He tried to smile at them, which only scared them a bit, and walked over towards the door black foot prints still trailing. Edward looked back towards the fireplace and then reset the boards back to where they originally were with a clap of his hands. He doubted that the Weasleys would ever be using the network again to get to the house. He walked outside, the Dursleys tailing him to the door. Arthur looked around the back yard suspiciously. He had a small broken watch in his hands which glowed blue for a slight moment. That was his portkey. Arthur checked over all of the fences to see if anyone was watching and quickly beckoned Edward over to him. Edward fumbled with his duffle bag and took hold of the watch. He was quite use to the routine by now, but the instant travel still never suited him. He now wished that he skipped breakfast.

The Durlseys were watching from the door way. Petunia and Vernon looked rather relieved that they were almost gone and Dudley was bending over to pick something off the ground. Edward's eyes widened as he reached into his pocket to find the piece of candy missing. Damnit! He took a few steps forward as to stop him but it was too late. The instant the candy touched the boy's lips his tongue began to grow and inflate to the size of a python. The parents screamed. Edward cursed Fred and George.

"Mr. Doorsliee, calm down!" Arthur shouted as he ran over to where the boy was panicking about his massive growth. Edward wanted to help at least try and calm down the Durleys as they tried to fight the wizard away from their son, but the port key started to glow again. He was launched into the air and away from the Dursley's house with their angry cries ringing in his ears. The Weasley reputation with Harry's family was now permanently tarnished.

…

Edward landed in a bright field somewhere very far away from the troubles of muggles and their abnormally growing child. He felt quite dizzy from the trip and the rippling grass wasn't helping. Edward took the opportunity to lighten his load and dump breakfast onto the earth. When he finally gained some of his senses, he noticed smoke pouring out from a chimney of a large house just down the hill. It looked like the only sign of civilization for a fifty mile radius. The house itself was very small compared to many others, but there were so many strange and unsymmetrical additions to it the building was probably triple the size it normally was. These additions were thrown askew on top of each other and made the house look so lopsided that support beams had to be placed underneath them so that it wouldn't topple over. Having no other house in sight, Edward started to walk towards it.

This was the Burrow, as he noted from the sign hanging on the broken down fence around it. There were several chickens running around the front yard as well as some strange ugly beings that looked almost human but definitely weren't. Edward walked through the gate and knocked on the door scarring a few of the curious creatures away with the noise. The door immediately flew open and there stood a small stout woman with amazingly curly red hair. She smiled at him and beckoned him in. It must have been Molly Weasley.

"My dear boy! I have heard so much of you! So brave!" she said cheerily as she brought him into a huge hug. Edward was amazed that she, against all appearance, gained the same strength as Armstrong when it came to hugs. His arms were pinned to his sides as his life was being squeezed out of him and nearly crushing his still healing side. His stitches wined a bit and he nearly collapsed when she let go.

"How have you been doing? I hope travel was well!" she started chippering on. Edward exhaled a huge breath as he stood up to take in the house. It was homey, to say the least. There was a huge table in the kitchen large enough to seat twelve compfortably. Many trinkets and bobbers were piled on shelves, mantelpieces, and tables probably from Molly's collection of her children's accomplishments. He saw even several photos of Harry made it in the house. Some rickety old wooden stairs led up from the livingroom as a backdoor led out to the barn. Considering that the place was the perfect balance between clean and a disaster zone, Edward liked it a ton lot more than the Dursley's white pruned carpets, which just recently became covered in soot. The only thing that ruined the invitation into the house was the scolding that Arthur was giving his sons.

"You dropped that on purpose!" he yelled at them.

"But Edward picked it up! He couldn't have eaten it!" Fred retorted.

"Well, he did. And the fact that you wanted the poor kid to eat it is the problem here not the how!" Edward walked into the room where everyone from the trip was sitting as well as two new red heads he never saw before. He guessed that they must be Bill and Charlie. There were so many Weasleys Edward silently wondered how they even fit in the house even with all of the additions onto it. Arthur looked up from where he was scolding his boys to him when he entered. He walked over and gave Edward a hug, but not as strong as Molly's was.

"Edward, I am so glad you could have made it," he said in a complete change of demeanor. It kind of scared Edward how fast he could change personalities. "Why haven't you returned my letters?" The twins looked rather relieved that the attention was back at him, but Arthur spun around and gave them a warning glare. They weren't out of the woods yet.

"I-I was really busy and travelling a lot, none of the owls got to me," Edward muttered his side still aching a bit. Arthur smiled and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"It's alright. You military folk are always on the move, here to there. I tried to send you muggle mail as well, but the post wouldn't accept it like they did Harry's," Arthur noted as he picked up an envelope on the mantel and handed it to him. It was completely coated in postage stamps. Not one bit of it was free space. It looked like someone went crazy on a mailing collage.

"Wait, you are in the military?" Charlie asked him. Edward nodded. "That means that you were the one in the papers, the one from the trial?"

"And your dad saved my butt on that one," Edward smiled at him. If it wasn't for Arthur he wouldn't have been able to teach at Hogwarts even though the Furher sent him. Arthur did a very great job at defending his muggle case and was able to let him keep his second job. Bill and Charlie looked absolutely fascinated with his story but Molly quickly waved them off and shoved Edward towards the staircase ignoring his struggle.

"Come on, I put you in the twin's room since it is one of the largest. There should be a cot up there for you. You should get changed and come down. We have a lot of work to do before tomorrow!" she told him very excitedly.

"Wait, what's tomorrow?" Edward asked her as she opened a door to the rooms.

"Our camping trip to the Quidditch Cup of course! We have a ticket for you if you want to go! It is the biggest event of the year!" she said as she shoved him into the room. "Now you get changed and meet Arthur and everyone down at the barn. I will be making dinner soon." The door shut behind Edward and he was left rather confused. There were two twin beds crammed into the small room and then a cot squeezed even tighter in the back corner near the window. He tossed his bag and jackets onto the bed and pulled out a pair of black shorts and a tank. His clothes that he traveled in were all grass stained and wrinkled due to the port key and smeared handprints covered them from where the Weasleys touched him with their sooty hands. He blamed Arthur for the state of his clothes. He swapped his pants and then took off his shirt. The stitches that sewed up his side left a red and tender scar from where he was stabbed right through with the support beam. Edward walked over to one of the mirrors in the room to get a better look at it. It didn't look pretty, the same went for his back. He really should have stayed at least five more says at the doctor's office, but he didn't really have a choice with the military after him like that. Edward let out a sigh and walked back over to his duffle to pick up his shirt. Just as he touched the fabric the door swung open and in walked Fred and George.

"BLOODY HELL!" Fred gasped as he saw Edward's side. George rushed over to him and shoved him down on the bed.

"Edward, are you alright? What the hell happened to you?" he gasped as he tried to touch it. Edward shoved his face away and grabbed his shirt. He walked to the opposite corner away from the suffocating twins. He shoved the shirt on over his head and started to fix his braid.

"Edward, you've been impaled!" Fred shouted. Edward ran over and clamped his hands over the boy's mouth completely forgetting about his unmaid hair.

"SHHH!" he scolded them. "Shut up!" He slowly let his hand off of the boy's face and closed the door to the room. Fred and George stood behind him with their mouths gaped open. He spun around on them and rolled his eyes at their faces.

"W-What happened!" George whispered. Edward slipped a boot over his automail foot and strapped the laces up.

"I made a stupid mistake and got hurt in the middle of it," Edward mumbled and shoved the other boot on his foot.

"What, you didn't see the giant ass knife that the man was holding behind his back?" Fred asked him.

"No," Edward growled at him. Fred immediately shut up. It technically wasn't a knife, but it sure was deadly as one. Kimbly had hidden a Philosopher's stone in his mouth and Edward only saw the one in his hands. He didn't see the hidden knife. He let out a sigh and slowly stood up. "Just don't tell anyone, I don't want them to worry. I already got it taken care of. Already saw a doctor. It just needs time." Fred and George looked at each other for a moment with completely worried faces. Edward glared at them forcing them to decide.

"Alright, alright," they both admitted. "But if something happens we are telling mom," George added.

"She would flip," Fred said. Edward let out a relief huff of air and finished braiding his hair.

"Thank you," he muttered.

"So what really did happen?" they both asked him.

"The man I was chasing blew apart the building and a support beam decided that my gut would be a nice place to rest," Edward said as he slung his belt around the loops of his shorts and tightened it. The twins faces distorted into agony as they pictured the graphic event.

"Did it hurt?" came the idiotic question from Fred. Edward just stared at him blankly while George slapped him over the head.

"No, it was exactly what I was looking forward to over my summer break. I would recommend a good stab in the gut on your next hiking trip, might make the whole vacation seem more appealing," Edward said dripping with sarcasm. He took a glance out the window to where the warm summer sun was sinking slowly in the sky. They better get going if they want enough day light to finish packing for the camping trip. "We should go now if we still want to get everything together for that trip you're going on," Edward said as the three of them headed down to the barn in complete silence.

….

Edward got a few flabbergasted looks from all of the Weasleys who haven't seen his automail. It was a lovely summer evening and he planned on enjoying it like one even if it meant exposing his automail by wearing shorts. Arthur still beamed at his arm like Winry did during a tune up session and Edward made sure to stay out of arms reach from him, literally, in fear that he might dismantle him. The barn was filled to the brim with old useless muggle equipment like fraying plugs and wires as well as some chicken feed for the random animals about. Arthur lead everyone into the corner of the barn where a bunch of canvas tents were laying in a huge heap. The rods were all jumbled together and he thought he saw a huge rip in one. To say the least, the Weasley's camping supplies were low rate and very beaten.

"Okay everyone," Arthur announced as he stood in front of them smiling, "Lets all separate into groups for this. Fred and George, you will get together the working tools, Harry and Ron will help chop some fire wood, Ginny, Bill, and Charlie will help me unfold and pack the tents, while Edward and Percy help pack the supplies and food. After all of this, we need to de-gnome the garden for your mum." Everyone looked around at each other a little confused. Arthur obviously didn't have very good organizational skills. Ron couldn't chop wood for his life, and the twins shouldn't be put anywhere near the work tools in fear of causing an accident.

"Um, Arthur," Edward said, "Why don't I separate the groups?" Fred, George, and Charlie were in charge of helping with the tents, Ginny and Ron were to get the tools, Harry and Percy were to pack the supplies, and he and Bill would chop the wood. They all seemed contempt with this and they went about to their work. Fred and George however asked him whether he should be the one chopping the wood, but Edward brushed them aside. With the way Ron dealt with an ax, he had little hope that anyone else in the Weasley family could to it. Bill however, seemed like he knew what he was doing and could actually lift the heavy blade up. It only took an hour to get everything finished for the next day. The tents were all aired out and packed away in back packs while the wood was chopped and separated into different bundles. Edward laid out on the grass giving his side a rest from the exercise and stared up at the dimming sky. Bill sat next to him a little less tired giving that he had more energy to spend.

"Well, that was quick," Bill puffed as he looked over to his partner. Edward smiled at him. Before they could fully catch their breath, an esteemed and fully energized Arthur came bounding over to them.

"Come on, Come on! Up! We need to de-gnome the garden before nightfall or else your mother will have a fit!" he said picking both of them up to their feet. Edward heard all of the Weasleys give out a groan. Before any of them had a say in the matter, Arthur dodged inside the house and shut the door behind him leaving them to do the chores.

"Always the same," Bill muttered. Percy gathered them all up together to pick straws on who was to de-gnome the garden. Obviously having several people in the tiny flower beds would prove a problem. Percy voted himself out of the equation immediately. Bill did as well, but he had a legitimate reason after chopping the wood. Ginny voted herself out and so did Ron and Charlie. The only people that were left were the twins, Harry, and of course Edward. The rest of them dashed inside for what looked like cover, leaving them in the garden to deal with the gnomes.

Edward quickly found out that the weird creatures that he saw from earlier were the gnomes. They found it really funny to run out of the brush and trip everyone over by tackling them by the knees. While all of the wizards easily stunned them with their wands, Edward was stuck with his own devices. He found out that he could knock them out by making them run straight on into his automail when the charged. They didn't really grasp the concept that his leg was made out of metal and weren't really that intelligent to adapt to it. After knocking one out he picked it up by the leg and stared at its ugly little unconscious head.

"What do I do with it?" he asked as he watched Fred and George chase after a gnome that was diving for cover into the hydrangeas.

"Throw it over the wall!" Fred shouted as he tried to tackle the gnome before it disappeared.

"So it can't get back in!" George added. Edward shrugged and gave the creature a good throw. It landed about fifty feet into the other field with a thud. He thought that this was rather a weird way to get rid of these things. Harry came up and gave his a spin before he tossed it like a lasso over the stones. It landed a few feet short of his.

"I bet I can throw mine farther!" George shouted charging the wall with his brute force. He whirled the thing about and sent the gnome flying. It landed shorter than Harry's did. Everyone laughed at him making the kid's ears turn red. "I slipped," the boy mumbled. They all engaged in a de-gnoming competition to see how far they could get the gnomes over the wall. It ended up in the creation of several different techniques of tossing which included shot put, pitching, side throw, and the catapult which Edward transmuted from the earth. All of the wizards called that cheating as his gnome went flying far over the wall of the other field but he shrugged. Just using his resources right? The earthen ballista was easily returned to the ground after the sun finally sank to the horizon and all of the gnomes were gone. They each trudged into the house a bit tired and overwhelmed from their day in the fields.

The dinner table was filled with plates as everyone sat down to eat. The eleven of them, since Hermione joined them that evening, were crammed at the table reaching over each other for some food. This was definitely a new dining experience for Edward. All of the military bases had cafeterias which you had to wait in line for, while he only really had to eat by himself or a few other people any time else since Alphonse didn't eat anything. Hogwarts also had enough plates that you didn't have to worry about having to stick your elbows in someone's face to get the chicken.

"Come on Edward, or else you won't get any," Bill told him as he took the first open opportunity to grab some mashed potatoes. It took him a while to get some actual substance on his own plate, but Edward finally managed. Though he was shooting for the mashed potatoes, he somehow ended up with green on his plate. After the chaos of the table calmed down a bit, everyone was able to get their fill and start their own conversations.

"So Edward," Arthur asked him, "how has your brother been doing?"

"I haven't actually seen him since I was up in the Briggs mountains," Edward noted. "We got separated during a mission and I just didn't get to meet up with him afterwards. However, Winry told me that he was still with Major Miles and he was fine. I just have to believe her."

"Oh, my poor dear," Molly pouted. "We can send him an owl if you want. Maybe it will reach him this time."

"I don't know if it would reach him, but maybe I could try when I get back to school. Whatever he is doing down there, I don't think that an owl would like to get caught up in it," Edward mumbled as he remembered Scops his little whirling puff ball of joy. He got caught up in the wrong part of Amestris at the end of last year and look where it got him. Edward didn't want another owl if that was what would happen to his next one.

"Well, I am sure Dumbledore will figure out some way to get you in contact with him. You can't just leave him alone forever, now can you?" Ron butted in. Edward smiled at him and continued to eat his potatoes. When dinner was over, everyone ran away to their rooms leaving the dishes to the poor parents. Edward picked up a couple of the plates and carried them over to the kitchen where Molly had a sink filled with soapy water.

"Just put them in the suds dear, I will get them." With a flick of her wand the plates started to wash themselves and stack neatly at the end of the counter where Molly would then put them away in their proper places. It took Edward a while to figure out where the dishes went but in the end he found the proper drawers and helped put them away. "Edward," Molly's voice came again as he bent over to put some plates in the bottom cupboards.

"Yeah," he answered.

"I want to know why young men like you and your brother, are part of something like the military," she said rather stiffly. Edward looked up from stacking the plates and saw the worried face of the motherly red head looking back at him. Her eyes were filled with complete motherly affection and it almost hurt him to look at her when she looked like that. He hadn't seen anything like it in a very long time. He looked back down to what he was doing and focused on setting the plates in the cupboard.

"My brother isn't part of the military, they wouldn't accept him. It is just me. I thought Arthur would have told you this by now," Edward noted rather softly.

"He did, but he sometimes gets his facts mixed up. I would like to hear it from you," she replied.

"Well, there isn't really much to say," Edward started. "My brother and I were injured during the war raids, I lost my arm and leg. Our mother recently died a little before hand and we had nowhere else to go. My friend fixed me up and put both of us back on our feet. I joined the military to earn a living and to keep up with my automail. It was the only thing I really knew how to do," he sighed. He basically memorized that excuse since he was twelve. It was so engrained into his memory that he secretly wished that it was true, maybe he would be having different nightmares every night.

"That's a nice story Edward," Molly's upset voice came out to him. She flicked her wand and the wash clothes and sponges stopped. "But if you ever want to tell the truth, know that I am always open." Edward's eyes widened as he spun around to face her. She knew it was a lie? Did Harry or Ron tell her? However, she didn't seem upset with him, or anything. She must have just known that it wasn't true. Edward shook his head slowly and closed the cupboard. He leaned forward on the counter top and massaged his tired face.

"Mrs. Weasley," he mumbled but he was silenced as the words caught on his lips. What would she think of him if she knew the truth? Harry, Ron, and Hermione took it differently because they had a right to know and they already had been through so much. Molly didn't know anything, she was basically blind to his life. He wouldn't be able to stand telling her. Though he only knew her for a few hours, he knew Ron, he knew Arthur, the twins, Ginny, and Percy, he didn't want to upset their mother. He felt a pat on his shoulder.

"I am always open, and so is my husband, Edward. Whenever you are ready," she said softly. Edward let out a shuttering sigh and picked up a towel that was on the counter. He nodded to her and placed the towel where it belonged before slowly walking away upstairs. Molly was left in the kitchen to finish the dishes.

…..


	3. The Camping Trip

**Okay this is another long chapter. I am sorry it took so long but it was a hard write. I think that I will only be updating once a week from now on unless I get excited. (sorry) Time is limiting. But, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thankyou for all of the lovely reviews you all made and I will make sure to take that stray H out of the last chapter. Thankyou everyone!**

CHAPTER 3

The Camping Trip

To put it frankly, Edward didn't get a good night's rest. He had woken up during the night several times out of a nightmare. He was worrying too much of his brother. Winry was right, he should just have faith in him, but something could still be seriously wrong. Though the dissented feeling was still lying in the pit of his stomach, he was glad that he didn't wake up anyone with his bad dreams. Fred and George were both snoring loudly in their identical beds probably dreaming of broomsticks or quidditch. Edward settled back down under the quilt Mrs. Weasley gave him and tried to get some actual rest before the morning.

"Come on dearie, get up," he heard Molly's voice in his ear as she lightly shook his shoulder. It didn't even feel like five minutes since he had closed his eyes before he was forcing them open again against their consent. The kind red headed woman scurried about the room and started to rouse all of its occupants for the big trip. It wasn't even light out yet. The moon still shone on the horizon as everyone forced themselves into a vertical position rather reluctantly. Edward got dressed, half mindedly slipping on his shirt and shoes before heading down to breakfast with a dirty rucksack in tow. Only a few people were actually awake at that hour and Arthur was the only one who seemed indifferent to the time of day. Edward gave out a huge yawn as he sat down at the table where a giant plate of steaming toast was waiting for him.

"Arthur, what are you wearing?" he asked the wizard tiredly as he buttered his toast. Arthur tossed away his normal robes and adorned an ugly green sweater and a pair of faded jeans held up only by a thick leather belt. If they were any bigger, Arthur would be tripping over them even while he sat there. The man smiled at him happily.

"We are supposed to go incognito for this trip, do you like it? These are my muggle clothes." Edward eyed the man a little bit, taking in his goofy appearance. If he tried really hard, he could pass for an old senile geezer.

"You look terrific," Edward grinned at him. Fred and George, who joined the table over heard his statement and gave a few stifled snickers.

"Edward, aren't you going to change into your normal muggle clothes?" Arthur asked him stupidly. He nearly choked on his piece of toast when he heard the question.

"What?" Edward croaked after regaining usage of his airways.

"Your red robe that you always wear," Arthur pointed out. Edward looked down at his red coat it was long like a robe, sure, but it was not floosy, it was not glittery, and it was not even magical. It was just a coat.

"These are my clothes," Edward stated flatly. "I am a muggle, this is what I wear. My red coat is long for travel purposes."

"So people from your country dress like that?" the crazy man questioned him. He nodded. Arthur glanced down at his colourful sweater. His down hearted thoughts however were distracted when the clock struck five.

"Oh, dear, better go," he said jumping up from his seat and nearly dragging the table cloth out from under the dishes. He ran out of the house towards the barn where they held all of their equipment. Harry and Ron were just making it down the stairs as the man bolted. Edward let out a sigh and started to pick up the plates of toast. They were going to have to eat on the way.

Anyone who was still hungry by the time Arthur ordered them all outside had a small pile of toast in their hands and were munching away at it. Before they knew it however, Mr. Weasley slapped a heavy pack on their backs and they were marching down the road for a few good miles. It was a nice open farmland, though the Burrow looked like the only actual house within a ten mile radius. They hiked a good two hours before they entered a small wooded clearing. The Quidditch Tournamet couldn't have been held there, could it?

"Where are we going?" Edward heard Ron complain as they stumbled across a few roots.

"It should be….. ah here we are!" Arthur said as they approached a small clearing in the patch of trees. The only thing laying in it was a dirty old boot.

"A portkey?" Edward groaned as he looked around for any other signs of transportation. Maybe a bus might appear out of nowhere if he thought really hard about it. However, no boat, train, car, or even dog sled came to them. They were stuck with a port key. Arthur smiled at them and approached the mangled shoe. All of a sudden a few more people protruded out of the woods and went near the shoe.

"Ah! Mr. Diggory, how nice to see you!" Arthur chided as he shook hands with the new man. Edward noticed that Cedric, a boy from his fifth year Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw class as well as the school's quidditch team, was there as well. He was standing happily by his father carrying his own rucksack for the occasion.

"How have you been doing Mr. Weasley? I can see that you got your family out today," Cedric's father replied happily. "Are these all of yours?" he asked looking around at the gingers, Hermione, Harry, and even Edward.

"Oh, no, no Amos, only the red heads are mine," Arthur laughed. Edward was turning a bit red from being thought that he was Arthur's son. He looked absolutely nothing like him. "This is Hermione Granger, Edward Elric, and Harry Potter."

"Potter? The Harry Potter?" Amos said rather surprised. "Wow, I have heard a lot about you young man! Not just from the papers, Cedric has put in several words about your quidditch as well!" He shook Harry's hand rather crazily and nearly knocked over several of the Weasleys. "Are you excited for the Cup? I bet seeing a real quidditch meet is going to be thrilling for a player like you!"

"Stop flustering the boy!" Arthur laughed. Mr. Diggory immediately apologized and set Harry's red hand down. Though his hand looked tormented and crushed, Harry smiled at him.

"Yeah, I guess I am a bit excited," he mumbled but it was enough to appease the man.

"How about you boy?" Diggory said. It took a while for Edward to realize that he was talking to him.

"W-what?"

"Are you excited for the quidditch game?"

"I mean, I guess," Edward stumbled a bit at the question. Amos let out a bellowing laugh that blew the trees down.

"You guess? This is Quidditch boy! The best sport of the wizarding world! You can't not be excited!" His rampaging was cut short by a small tug on his sleeve. Cedric whispered something into his father's ear which turned his completely happy face into an astonished gasp. "You don't mean," he mumbled as he glanced between Cedric and Edward. "You're a muggle?" he asked him as if he almost didn't believe it.

"Ummm, yeah," Edward stated.

"OH! You are the new teacher I have heard about in the papers! Yes, yes, I see now. Well, no wonder you aren't excited! You haven't tasted the sport yet! Once you get there you will be so happy that you would want to play yourself! Come on Edward! Let's go!" Mr. Diggory said pushing him towards the dirty boot. Edward tried to fight the man's over bearing grip but much to his dismay and much to his student's pleasure, it was too strong. Everyone gathered around the dirty garment and grabbed a hold of it, or in Edward's case was pinned to it by an overjoyed Amos. They were sent off within the minute into the sky and away from the small gathering of trees. It took only a few seconds for them to hit dirt and for the full whirling sensation to hit their heads again. Edward rolled over onto his stomach and groaned as his breakfast was fighting him with enough brutality to wake the apocalypse. He felt a slap on his back which immediately released his breakfast.

"Looks like he couldn't keep it down Arthur!" Amos's voice laughed above him. Edward was getting rather aggravated from that man. Mr. Weasley rushed over to him and picked him up off of the ground and brushed him off.

"Come on Edward," he said pitifully, "Let's get camp made up then you can rest for a bit."

"I am not sick!" Edward growled dizzily. Cedric chuckled at him as he tried to figure which way he was walking.

"Shorter trips like this aren't usually taken as well as the longer ones," Arthur mumbled as he and Ginny grabbed a hold of his elbows to steady him. Edward grumbled but didn't fight. Falling on his face was definitely not one thing he wanted to do today. There were two oddly dressed men only a few yards away from their landing spot. They carried a box with them full of flat balls, torn books, and broken pencils. Mr. Diggory tossed the revolting boot into the box adding to the pile of nasty garbage, which Edward figured out were used portkeys. The wizards, who had poor muggle fashion taste, gave them each a ticket for their campsite and sent them on their way down the path. Just as they reached the border of the woods, Edward looked back to see that another port key had arrived with nearly twenty people holding onto what looked like to be a popped pool float.

The path was rocky but short and brought them all out to a road by a series of long fields. There were several signs posted up everywhere to signal different campsites and their owners. As Edward looked around the roads he realized that this wasn't any weird wizard camp site, this was complete muggle territory. Once in a while he would see a stray car zip down the road as the drivers would give them weird looks. He bet a small village of some sort laid just over the mountains. However, as their group walked down the roads Edward could not find one logical place to put a giant stadium full of flying broomsticks and cheering wizards that wouldn't be completely obvious to the muggle inhabitants of the area.

"Ah, here we are!" Arthur said looking at a small sign just off of the road that said _The Robinsons._ The sign pointed to a small white house that was labeled the office. Amos and Cedric waved goodbye and walked farther up the road to their own separate field. Arthur strode up to the door and gave it a good knock. Immediately it flew open and a kind, ordinarily dressed man stood in the door way.

"Ello, I am Mr. Robinson, ow are ye doing today?" his happy and sincere voice came. It was obvious that he was probably one of the few true muggle inhabitants of the area. Edward immediately liked him.

"Oh, I am doing fine thank you," Arthur replied with a smile. "We are the Weasleys. We booked two tents for this camp ground a few months ago."

"Oh, aye, I remember. I got ye a nice spot down by de woods ere," Mr. Robinson said pointing over to his field. Edward could just see a few canvas tents poking out from behind the tree line. "Will ye be payin now? Or later?"

"Now, thank you," Arthur said nervously. He leaned a little closer to Edward. "Can you please help me with this?" he whispered in his ear holding out a wad of jumbled English money. Wizards and non-wizards had complete different styles of money. Unfortunately so do the Amestrians.

"Hey! I don't know your currency!" Edward retorted, "Ask Harry!" He jabbed a finger at the short black haired kid. They immediately began to fiddle around with the wad of cash. Everyone was going to be there for a while.

"I dunno ow yer gonna fit in only two tents," he heard Mr. Robinson mumble to him. Edward nodded. That would be nearly five people per tent. By the looks of the ones that they were shaking out earlier in the Burrow, they were only meant for two. He wondered who the unlucky people were to be sleeping outside this evening. Arthur gave out a hum of excitement as Harry explained the money system.

"So I bet the place is packed full this week," Edward said trying to pick up small talk. He wasn't very good at it, but didn't care. Mr. Robinson smiled back at him.

"Aye, it tis. People been pre booking recently. Most times ey just walk in, but now everyones prebooking de place. Tis strange, bet it is some kind of party, ye know? Would explain de weird clothes," Mr. Robinson said as the two of them watched a man wearing a pink floral dress walk by. Edward wondered where wizard ideas of muggle wear had gone so awry. There was a yelp of joy as Arthur and Harry finally figured out the money. Just as Arthur was going to walk over to where the two of them were standing, there was a loud crack and a few wizards popped out of nowhere in front of them. Edward was completely scared from the sudden noise and nearly tackled the shell shocked muggle next to him.

"Obliviate!" the wizards shouted. A bolt of light shot out of their wands and hit them each in the chest. Edward felt a sudden blur in his mind and he suddenly felt the past few moments go hazy. Did those men just pop out of nowhere? No, no, couldn't be. He tried to focus on what was happening and looked over to the crowd of people. They were all staring completely shaken at them for some reason. Maybe he did something funny? All of a sudden as quickly as the storm entered his mind, it left. Edward could think clearly again, even though the reason for the hesitation was still a blur. Arthur slowly handed the money to Mr. Robinson and he counted it out for the change just like nothing ever happened. _Nothing did happen_. The man gave them their return and the map to their campsite and sent them on their way. Edward waved goodbye but Mr. Robinson was already head deep in another customer. Some of the Weasleys were still staring at him funny as they left the land owner to his work. As they entered to woods, Arthur rounded on him.

"Edward, are you alright?" he asked him. Everyone stopped in their tracks as they looked at him with worried faces.

"Umm, yeah, why?" he replied rather nervously. He looked at the twins but they were wearing the same expressions everyone else did. He thought that maybe they told Arthur about his injury. He would have murdered them if they did.

"You were hit with a charm just a few moments ago, what do you remember?" he asked grabbing Edward's face rather forcefully and started to check his eyes for any dilation. Edward tried to thrust him off and only succeeded after a few moments of pushing and shoving.

"I am alright. Those two guys walked into the line for their tent and then you gave Mr. Robinson the payment. Nothing happened," Edward stated flatly rubbing his sore cheeks.

"Walked in?" George cried.

"They apparated in front of EVERYONE!" Fred shouted. He looked at them like they were crazy, but they just returned the same look. All of a sudden the two men from earlier came rushing down the path and over to them.

"Arthur! Arthur!" they shouted as they caught their breath from their short run. "We're sorry, is he one of yours? We didn't know!" one of them asked for forgiveness. Arthur tried to calm them down but they were still rapidly apolologising.

"I just knew he was a muggle. I didn't realize he was _the_ muggle. I am sorry for that!" the other man said.

"Hey! Who are you calling _the_ muggle? Don't label me like a god damn inanimate object! I am Edward Elric!" he shouted at them rather angrily. He didn't mind the word muggle, just how people used it. The two wizards started to back away as he approached them. Hermione and Ron grabbed Edward by the elbows to hold him back.

"Is he alright Arthur? We didn't do a too well of a job with him did we?" the stranger asked. Arthur laughed and shook his head a bit.

"No, no, he is just a little rallied up that's all."

"Who are you calling little!" Edward raged. He was completely lost, but the unnecessary insults weren't making anything easier. The two men backed up a bit more. Arthur waved them on down the path way.

"Everything is fine, just go back to the ministry and alert that he is here so it won't happen again!" Arthur cried out. There was another loud cracking noise and the two wizards dissapperated out of the woods. Hermione and Ron let go of Edward as his targets were gone. He grumbled a bit and straightened his coat out.

"Arthur, tell me what the heck is going on here!" he cried.

"You were accidentally hit by a memory charm, Edward," Arthur told him but he was still a bit confused. "The ministry sends some wizards down here every so often to give the poor muggles a memory charm. They sometimes get overly curious and wizards get careless you see, and the ministry just makes sure that magic is kept secret. They mistook you as a normal muggle and gave you one as well."

"Memory charm? So Mr. Robinson doesn't know anything just because his memory was erased over and over again?" Edward asked a bit scared. Arthur glumly nodded his head.

"Unfortunately yes. I don't like it but it is what the ministry does. That is why your trial was so important last year. They were planning on giving you a memory charm if you were voted against, but luckily we won."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this then!" Edward panicked. He could have gotten most of his memory erased permanently. They could have erased everything, even knowing that a boy named Harry or a family named the Weasleys ever existed. Arthur looked a little taken aback by his sudden outburst.

"Well, I didn't want to frighten you! It is a little scary idea if you think about it!"

"I AM THINKING ABOUT IT!" he raged. Edward stormed off down the trail and everyone else tried to keep up with him. "Erasing people's memories, damn it! That shouldn't even be moral!" he cursed at no one in particular.

"Edward, like I said I don't like it either but it needs to be done sometimes. If muggles found out about magic people could think their crazy or they would start riots!" Arthur replied rather nervously. Everyone had to pick up a jog to keep up with the speeding alchemist.

"It's basically stealing, vandalizing, and breaking and entering the mind! People keep thoughts to themselves for a reason! You just barge in and steal them away!" he shouted. "What if you made them forget something important, like a marriage, a friend, a specific date that they have to be at? That-That-That's not right!" Edward stopped in his tracks and collapsed to the dirt trail they were hiking along. His heavy rucksack was carelessly tossed to the side as he tried to grasp a hold of everything. He held his head in his hands as he thought for a moment. Arthur waved the kids on down the trail so they wouldn't disturb them and then sat down next to the distressed alchemist.

"Edward," Arthur said softly. He looked up from the ground into the wizard's concerned eyes. Edward gave a deep sigh.

"I-I could have forgotten everything. If that trial didn't go right, I would have forgotten everything that happened last year. I would have forgotten Harry, Hermione, you, and your family. I would have even forgotten what I and my brother did at this school. That's a whole year Arthur. Mr. Robinson lost several minutes of everyday. Those aren't anything he could ever get back." A pain stuck him in the side as he remembered the night up at Briggs when he got stabbed. He already lost one or two years off of his life alchemically zapping his vitals back together. He could have lost another one from simply forgetting. Arthur placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Edward, as long as I am around, you don't have to worry about losing anything. But for the rest of them, including Mr. Robinson, it is better to forget something bad than to dwell over the potential danger. Think of what would happen to Mr. Robinson if he knew magic existed. It is better that he forgets. I don't like memory charms, but I don't want to put anyone in danger." Edward glanced back up the trail where he could see the faint colouring of the Robinson's house. He could get locked up for believing in magic. People weren't too lenient when it comes to sanity. What would happen to his family if something happened to him? Edward gave a sigh. Arthur was right, but that didn't mean that he was entirely. He slowly stood up from the ground and brushed his clothes off. Arthur gave him a little comforting pat on the back. "Come on Edward, lets get to camp," he said halfheartedly.

….

It was a small patch of dirt, their campsite, where their tents could barely fit between the several other sporadic and colourful festivals around them. Several of the surrounding tents had full fledged lawn decorations and other spiritual décor that they looked more like permanent settlements than temporary canvas tents. Their site was labled with a pitiful sign that spelled WEEZLYS instead of Weasleys, but Arthur looked at it full of optimism and potential. The Weasleys started to unpack their sacks without any hesitation that is until it came to setting up the tents. Arthur was clueless to how the thing was put together. He even tried to find a switch or a button of some sort. Harry had to eventually stop Mr. Weasley's failed attempts when he tried to give it voice commands to set itself up. Harry, Hermione, and Edward were the most help when it came to the tents. Edward pounded the stakes into the ground with one swing of his arm while everyone else set up the poles. It took only an hour until both tents were clumsily put together. Compared the neighbors, they had the least attractive site. Bill, Charlie, and Percy popped up magically beside the tent. They apparated there instead of taking the port key because it gave them a few more hours of sleep. Everyone who had to wake up were a bit jealous at the new comers especially since they didn't even help set up the tent.

"Alright," Arthur said turning around and addressing the entire family, "You lot can head in and figure out sleeping arrangements. Girls get the small tent, men get this one. I will start a fire and cook dinner for everyone!"

"Arthur," Edward said a little curiously. "How in the world is everyone going to fit-" He stopped when he turned around to see that no one was behind him. Noises and voices came from the other side of the canvas. He slowly flicked away one of the flaps of the tent to see a giant, enormous canvas palace complete with furniture and bunk beds. Was this camping? Edward slowly closed the flap and opened it back up to see if he wasn't just seeing things. Nope, it was still there.

"Does conservation of mass mean anything to you?" Edward shouted as he ran around the tent triple checking the size and perimeter. "Where do you put all of this stuff?" he heard Arthur and several of the voices inside laugh at him. It wasn't fair what magic could do.

"We had a friend lend us his enchanted tents for the trip. We couldn't all fit if we didn't get them," Arthur said. Edward was still studying the canvas as Arthur tried to get a fire going with the logs that they hauled along. After finding out that there wasn't much he could do about the theories behind the tent Edward turned around to see the man burning his fingers on the matches and tossing wood about. He let out a low groan and snatched the charred match out of his hand. Arthur unhappily stuck the burnt hand to his mouth to try and to dull to pain.

"Hand," Edward ordered. Arthur unwillingly gave him his hurt hand and Edward clapped his own together. In an instant the man's flesh was fully refreshed and all of the proteins restored to his skin. Arthur looked up at him shocked. He ignored him and took the matches off of the rock beside him. "Alright, let me show you how to make a fire."

Edward actually seemed to like camping. It reminded him of the island but luckily he didn't have to fight for his life. Teaching Arthur and everyone basic camping skills was more fun than he thought even though they were still pathetic at anything to deal with muggle skills. The wizards were a bit disappointed not to be able to use magic since they were in such close proximity to a muggle villiage. Some of the other tents around them however ignored that aspect. Bill and Charlie ended up coming on out to learn how to build a fire. They were a little more successful than their father who still flinched whenever the match was lit. Cooking over the open flame didn't prove that they had anymore talent in the outdoors than before. Arthur tried to cook a can of beans without even opening it. Unfortunately Edward wasn't supervising him at that point and the can exploded. Bill made slightly burnt hotdogs while Edward showed Charlie how to find and make sticks to cook with from the bordering woods. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were sent to the utilities to fetch some water for the fireside. They returned with half a bucket and soaked pants. Over all they had a pretty well meal aside from the beans which were still scattered across the lawn.

As they were eating, Percy pointed out several ministry folk who were walking around the camp. Most of them were trying to keep all of the magic in order and keep everyone under control while some were trying to explain muggle cultures to dumbfounded wizards. Edward saw a ministry man talking to the old senile wizard who was wearing the pink dress from earlier. It seemed like he was trying to convince him to wear pants instead.

"Muggle women wear them Archie, not the men, they wear these," the man said holding up a pair of trousers. Archie however looked so contempt in his dress he didn't want to get out of it. Edward was so entertained by the scene that he didn't hear someone sneak up behind him.

"Well, I'll be! Edward Elric!" a loud booming voice rang out as a rather rough hand slapped him on the back causing him to choke on his food. Edward spat it out and coughed trying to see who it was that scared him. He turned around to see a rather jolly wizard that he didn't even recognize. He was wearing a tan suit and a derby hat, seeming to know the normal fashion a little better than others.

"Who- who are you?" Edward asked him as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve. The man gave a annoying laugh.

"Right, right, sorry about that. I am Ludo Baggman, head of Games and Sports of the ministry. I know your father. He helped the wizard sport industry learn a thing or two about some science. Something about air resistance, helped improve the broom speed and everything. I didn't understand most of the work he did, but he sure helped a lot." Edward grumbled at the sound of his father. He knew he made contact with the wizarding world ever since the start of the prior year, but he really didn't expect to be hearing him from the Sports industry of all places.

"You mean physics?" Edward asked him rather annoyed.

"Ah, yes! That's the one!" Ludo cried in happy enjoyment. Edward rolled his eyes and dove back into his dinner but the man wouldn't leave him alone. He plopped down on a log next to him and smiled. "So you are the alchemy teacher I hear. Word about you has gotten out through the ministry by now. Everyone seems to want to talk about you for an interview of sorts, but we tried to quiet them down a bit. Don't want anyone chasing after you to your home country now do we?" Edward's mind shot back to Severus and how easily he got into the mountains of Briggs. They weren't doing a really good job at taking care of that situation. "So are you excited for this year at Hogwarts? It is going to be spectacular don't you think?"

"Magical," Edward muttered though he had no clue what the man was talking about.

"Wait, what's going on in school this year, Dad?" Ron asked.

"Nothing, nothing," Arthur muttered and dragged Mr. Bagman out of earshot. The younger children looked to Edward and the older siblings for hints, but Bill, Charlie, and Percy left without a word. Edward gave a huge over exaggerated shrug.

"I don't know. Don't look at me. I was in the mountains all summer!" he stated. Arthur and Ludo talked for an extremely long time during which Edward cleaned up all of the plates and got everybody ready to go to the sports event. He might not know where it was, but he sure knew that it was somewhere around nightfall. Fred and George took to gambling for the winner of the cup while they waited for the sun to set. Some of them went around to small vendors to get some souvenirs and things for the games. They came back with several large colourful hats and binoculars that in Edward's mind looked even weirder than Archie wearing the dress. A little while after Ludo left and Arthur got himself around, they started to walk down along a separate trail through the woods. Edward still didn't know where in the world this stadium was going to be held but he felt like he was going to get an answer sooner or later. Arthur was spewing facts here and there about the building of the arena and everything in it. Edward slowly listened to the hum of the man's over excited voice as they drew nearer to a crowd of voices.

"The only way that we are ever able to keep this place a secret is to put a million antimuggle charms around it. Every single inch of it is covered. The instant they get too close they-" Arthur stopped for a moment. The roar of the crowd was growing louder and several bright lights started to flood through the dark woods. Everyone was staring enthusiastically ahead except for Edward who was casually walking back down the trail as if nothing interesting was happening at all. "Edward where are you going?"

"I just forgot, I have to go back to Amestris and drop off some of my paperwork. I will be back in a few weeks or so, but I need to make that appointment," Edward said completely out of character. Arthur rushed over to him and tried to stop him but the alchemist's strange determination was too much. Mr. Weasley was plowing his feet into the ground in an attempt to stop him from moving. "Arthur, I really need to go!" Edward complained as he casually pushed the man out of his way. He continued to walked back down the trail where they once came from.

"Dad, what's up with him?" Ginny asked her father. Arthur whipped out his wand and hurried after the alchemist.

"Edward, Edward! They must have updated the repelling spell they used! Edward, get back here! I need to fix that amulet!" Arthur called out after him. It was a while before Mr. Weasley actually caught up to Edward and stopped him long enough to cast another counter enchantment on his amulet. Edward's mind suddenly refocused from actually wanting to do paperwork to something more relevant like walking back to the stadium. He was glad that Arthur was able to stop him in time because he really didn't feel like doing paperwork at all, especially if it had to be turned into the Colonel. "Like I was saying, muggles remember random appointments as soon as they approach and run away as if nothing happened," Arthur informed everyone as they finally caught up to where they once were. Edward's face turned a little red from embarrassment as they walked through the large overbearing crowd.

To say that the stadium was huge was an understatement. It was enormous and filled to the brim with wizards of all ages ready to watch a giant Quidditch game. Arthur noted that it held as many as a hundred thousand people in it at once. They were herded to the top box by some other ministry folk and they took their seats near the mid field in a box that was decorated in dark purple carpet and cloth. Edward's red coat stuck out like a sore thumb with the contrasting colours. Several advertisements were thrown about the place, popping up in mid air just to alert everyone of the new magical shampoo that instantly styles your hair. Edward looked around the stadium in fascination of the mere size of it all. It was an architectural wonder. Lights flashed everywhere down on the field as the roar of the crowds were overpowering. As Edward watched the wizards scream in excitement he felt a soft tug on the hem of his coat. He turned around to see that no one was there. It wasn't until he looked down that he actually saw someone. It was a house elf.

"Dobby?" he heard Harry say as he caught sight of the creature too. Edward didn't know who Dobby was, but he sure knew that the house elf was a girl and not a boy. She was dressed in a torn pillowcase unlike the elves at Hogwarts and was looking around completely terrified.

"S-s-sir, Y-you can't b-be up-p h-here. N-n-none w-wand u-users c-c-c-can't be up h-here," she said politely.

"No, no," Arthur butted in calmly with a deep good natured smile, "It is alright. He is with us. This is Mr. Elric the alchemy teacher of Hogwarts. The ministry knows he is here." The elf's eyes grew so huge that they went from the size of tennis balls to small boulders. She bowed deeply and nearly fell over she was shaking so much.

"W-W-Winky is d-d-deeply s-s-sorry for h-here rudeness. Winky ap-p-p-pologises for her i-inconvienince s-s-sir Elric," she cried. Edward looked over to some of the other wizards for help but they already turned back to the field to watch the opening show. The tiny house elf was still crying and apologizing to him. She was shaking terribly and her legs nearly collapsed from underneath her. Edward bent down next to her on one knee to get level. For once he actually had to look down to someone.

"Winky, it's alright. You weren't the first one to make that mistake today. In fact, you were the most polite out of all of them," Edward smiled. Her terrible wails slowly died out to a sniffle but her body was still shaking uncontrollably. It sure was windy at the altitude they were at in the top box and al of the wizards were dressed in warm coats and sweaters. "Are you cold Winky? You are shaking terribly," he asked her. She frantically shook her tear covered head.

"N-no sir. W-Winky doesn't g-get cold. Winky be up here t-to save seat for m-master, but sh-she really j-just w-wants to stay on ground," she said softly.

"Winky are you afraid of heights?" She nodded furiously and clamped her long ears over her eyes. Edward patted her head softly and lead her back to where she was sitting beforehand, which was just the row behind them. He sat down next to her and they watched the game from their seats. Winky gripped dearly to the edge of the chair and to his jacket in fear. Her eyes were clamped shut not even wanting to look out of the box window to watch the wizards fly around on broomsticks several hundred feet high in the air. Ron and Harry were fooling around with the Omnioculars and supposedly watching a guy pick his nose over and over again. Hermione glanced back at him and smiled when she saw Edward sitting next to the terrified house elf.

The box slowly began to fill up. Arthur ended up shaking hads with several other men, better dressed than he was, who were probably high ministry folks. Cornelius Fudge was talking to some strange foreigner in a form of overly exaggerated sign language. Edward smiled at the minister but Cornelius's face blanched out. Their acquaintanceship wasn't on good terms ever since Cornelius forced him to be tried for his muggle back ground. Edward didn't make it any better in the course of the previous year either. A man and his family walked up behind the minister and smiled shallowly at the man. The silvery blond hair that obviously ran in the family was unmistakably belonged to the Malfoys. When Lucius caught sight of Edward, he gave him a disgusted glare that curdled his blood cold. Arthur, who was also talking to Cornelius didn't look like he was having the time of his life either, but seemed to be doing a better job at keeping his insults to himself than Lucius was. After they gave each other a good bye shot, everyone made their way to their seats. Unfortunately for Edward, the man's seat was right next to where he was sitting by Winky. Both Lucius and his wife gave him rather disapproving glares. Narcissus looked like someone stuck dirt up her nose with the face she was giving everybody, not just him. The only one who didn't give him a full glower was Draco, who spent more time actually looking around the field than his parents did.

"So, Edward, how is it that someone as pitiful as you got a ticket to the World cup?" Lucius snarled. The alchemist calmly smiled as he watched some of the opening fireworks shoot off of the stadium.

"A friend gave me a ticket, is that hard to believe?"

"Yes it is," the man retorted curtly. There was a long silence as even more flying wizards zoomed into the stadium and the crowd started to roar. Narcissus took a quick glance over to him but then returned her gaze to the ceremony.

"Mrs. Malfoy, I would just like to inform you that Draco is one of my top students in my class. Your son got the highest score on one of my finals that I gave out. He has great potential in science, potions even," Edward said. He saw a small almost invisible smile flash over Draco's face. The woman didn't say anything, but Lucius scoffed at him.

"Potions are one of the finest classes in the school. Your pathetic excuse for magic is however nothing to be proud of," the man said. Edward rolled his eyes at the dumb wizard and watched them game. Winky was still clinging to his coat. The crowd and the Weasleys screamed in excitement as a couple wizards zoomed by the box in chase of the quaffle.

"Well, it can't be that pathetic if I am still allowed to teach it this year, now is it?" Edward smiled. The man's face turned bright red as Edward reminded him of his past failure. Lucius Malfoy was one of the many people who tried with all of their might to get him kicked out of Hogwarts and sent back home. He failed luckily with the help of Arthur, his one true nemesis. The Malfoys didn't say another word for the entire game.

Ireland completely crushed Bulgaria even though a kid called Krum caught the snitch. This was a joy for Fred and George since that was exactly what they were betting on in the game. They walked out of the box with pockets filled with money. Winky's master never showed up. She was still quivering in her seat even when everyone else got up to leave. She had a tight hold of Edward's jacket so he had no choice but to pick her up and carry her down to the bottom level with him. She took to the ground happily and sped off down the way back towards the campsite without another word from Edward. The Weasleys cheered and sang all the way back to their tents. Fred and George took to dancing about their slowly dying fire like lunatics, it wasn't long before Charlie and Bill started in as well. Everyone laughed at their colourful display and talked about the events of the match. Hermione seemed overjoyed with the fact that Edward was nice enough to help Winky out even though she was only a house elf. After the fire was finally put out, the girls went off to their tent and the boys jumped off into theirs. Yet they weren't the least bit tired. Edward searched around for somewhere to sleep and ended up in the bunk underneath Fred and George. It seemed like they would never run out of energy. Edward changed into his pajamas in one of the small closed off sections of the tent. He guessed that if the tent took up the right amount of space it should have, he would be standing in their neighbor's fire pit right now. When he emerged in his shorts and tank shirt, Charlie pulled him out into the small kitchenette where everyone was sitting. They all ordered him to tell them as story of some sort while they were all still up and hyper. He told them about his teacher and his life on the island. If the wizards thought this was ruffing it they were completely surprised when Edward told them this was luxury camping. After a long candy filled party and a couple of games of charades, they one by one made their way off to bed.

Edward looked through the dim light of the tent to his right arm which hung bare in the night. The metal shone out and flickered with the low burning candles. The Weasleys all seemed alright with his arm and leg even the fact that he was a muggle. It was like they didn't even care anymore. He smiled slightly and slowly closed his eyes for a nights rest, but that was when the screaming started.


	4. Scars

**Shorter chapter, but action! Yay! Action chapters are usually shorter because there is so much going on in such little time. Well, You were right, I was excited to make this chapter! Wrote it right down. I hope you all like it! Thank you for the reviews! And no, unfortunately for your sakes I couldn't run out of yarn before I posted my next chapters because I went to the store and bought several pounds just to be prepared. That blanket shall be mine though! I plan to have it finished by the end of this story! **

CHAPTER 4

Scars

"Everyone get up! Now!" Arthur's voice rang out as a burst of screams echoed close outside their tent. All of the boys jolted awake as the lights of the tents went up. Edward heard the distant sound of explosions coming from a little ways to his left. Arthur was basically ripping everyone out of bed. "Hurry get up, get out. You need to leave! This is urgent!" Edward jumped up out of bed as another loud bang sounded even closer this time. Everyone slipped their shoes on and grabbed their coats as fast as they could before they ran outside. The girls were up as well standing outside of their tent completely frozen from the fire lit scene in front of them. The campsite was lit in a blazing inferno wizards and witches ran about everywhere carrying children. They were all running for the safety of the woods a behind them. Tents were sent on fire or completely blown apart while red and green spells whizzed around through the air. Edward didn't know Bulgaria would be this mad at losing the Quidditch match. In the distance he saw a group of hooded figures with strange long cloaks and masks. They were marching around and laughing hysterically as they pointed their wands up to the sky. It seemed like they were tossing something about in the air. Edward took a step closer and looked at what they were going crazy about. His heart nearly stopped with the sudden realization. It was Mr. Robinson. They were tossing the camp owner and his poor family around in the air and hanging them upside down till they got sick. Mrs. Robinson's skirt was flipped up so everyone could get a full view of her bloomers. The mob was laughing and taunting them as the muggles were tossed around in the sky. The ministry folk were trying to stop the parade, but in the madness they couldn't find a way to get the prisoners down safely from the heights at which they were at.

"Mr. Robinson!" Edward shouted as he started to charge towards where the mob was fighting. Arthur grabbed his coat and yanked him backwards before a crowd of frightened people could run him over in their race towards to woods.

"Edward no!" he scolded him as Edward still tried to fight towards where the nice camp owner was being tortured. "Edward, they will get you too! Charlie, Bill, and Percy will help me stop them. You take everyone to the woods!" Arthur ordered him. He looked at Mr. Weasley's frightened eyes and then back towards the floating muggles. Edward reluctantly nodded his head and herded the rest of the Weasley family together as well as Potter and Granger.

"Come on! Go!" he ordered everyone. Edward took the lead with a shell shocked Ginny on his back while the twins picked up the rear. They raced towards the woods in the tormenting crowd of frightened people. Edward tried to tune out the lunatic laughs of the crazy mob as he carried the girl to safety. A few times he got beaten and shoved as a few terrified wizards raced onward for their own safety. He got an elbow to the face as he quickly turned ta corner towards the growing underbrush. Something warm and wet dripped down his face but he ignored it. Ginny was still holding onto him for dear life. She couldn't seem to move at all. The lot of them entered the brush of the woods and raced along deeper into the tree lines out of the range of the fierily lights. Edward slowed down to a walk and carefully paced his footing about the lumpy tree roots of the forest. All of the following wizards lit their wands and Hermione took the lead so that everyone could see better. Edward shifted Ginny's weight back up around his shoulders and hips as she was slowly slipping off.

"Ouch! Stop stepping on my feet!" Edward heard Harry complain. A muffled apology came from Ron as they marched on over the roots. Edward heard a rather loud snap of a twig and long drawling voice.

"Weasley, you are always such a clutz," Draco's voice rang out. Everyone turned around to see the young blond leaning against a tree rather relaxed. Every eye but Edward's golden ones gave the kid a rather ugly gaze. "You guys might want to move a _little_ faster if you don't want these two spotted, now do you?" he said nodding his head towards Edward and Hermione.

"What do you mean?" George asked him threateningly. Ron said a few words that should never be spoken to any living being. Edward kicked the kid lightly in the shins ordering him to stop. Draco gave a rather fake bored sigh.

"Well, you see, the Death Eaters out there only bother with the muggles or mud born folk like them. You better pick up the pace if you don't want to join the flying circus," the kid yawned. Everyone was about to retort to the word 'mud' but they were all silenced by a short cry from George.

"Fred?" he asked looking around. Edward was perked into high alert as everyone looked around the faces in their group, even Draco was looking about rather desperately for the other twin but he was nowhere to be found.

"Dear God," Edward growled as he raced over to the back of the line and set Ginny down by a tree stump. He carefuly tossed his coat down around her shoulders, leaving him bare in his tank top and shorts.

"Thank you Draco for that tip," Edward said rather hastily and against the angered cries of his group. He looked to Harry and Ron. "You two stay here and protect your sister. Make sure to keep everyone hidden. If you have to move, do so. Just keep everyone safe." Edward started to run back down the trail but he heard a pair of footsteps following him.

"George, stay back there!" he scolded without even looking back but the footsteps still followed.

"I am going to help my brother!" George cried as he kept pace with the running alchemist. Edward growled and ran faster against the fray of people. The two of them pushed their way back into the crowd as they entered the screaming and exploding fields. Edward retraced their steps and carefully scanned everywhere for a sight of the missing twin. The terrified wizards screamed at them and yelled at them to go the other way and several times Edward got shoved backwards into George, but they continued on. Almost half way into their run, Edward spotted the crazy mob of death eaters approaching. The ministry weren't able to keep everybody back and the hysterical crowd were advancing. Mr. Robinson was still bouncing along in the air uncontrollably. Edward quickly glanced around as they continued to move forward down the row of flaming tents. There he was. Fred was lying on the ground unconscious. The crowd must have pulled him over in their haste and nearly trampled him to death. A scared crowd was nearly as dangerous as the ones causing it. Edward and George raced over to him. They were rather close to the wall of wizards now. He looked over the poor boy and saw that he was still breathing. He was alive thankfully. Edward cursed his stupidity for not checking that everyone made it. He stooped down and was about to pick the kid up when something out of nowhere hit him in the chest. The spell hurled him backwards into the air a few yards and he came crashing down to the earth. His injured side rang out in pain as George yelled for him. Something warm rose up through his throat and he hurled over to spit it out. The gleaming red of blood shone on the ground. He must have taunted his injury a little more than expected. The pain soared up his side, but he knew that he could life through it, just an abrasion. He looked up and saw the ever approaching death eaters who were looking rather hungrily at them. Edward struggled to carefully braced himself back up with his automail. He ran back over to where Fred and George were ignoring the looks he gave him with the blood that still coated his mouth. With a clap of his hands he transmuted a small wall from the ground blocking them from any more flying spells. Edward grabbed a hold of Fred from around the shoulders and basically tossed him onto George's back.

"Go!" Edward shouted over the war of spells that were ricocheting off of the raised ground. George however didn't start running. He looked at him rather scared with his limp brother hanging over his back. A piece of wall broke and Edward quickly clapped his hands to fix it. "Goddamn it! GO!" Edward scolded him. The wall shattered and the Death Eaters were only a few yards away. A spell hurdled itself towards George and Edward stuck out his automail to block it. The spell rebounded and flew back into the crowd of people launching one of the death eaters into the air. "GO! You idiot!" Edward shouted one more time. The frightened red head bolted down the way with his limp brother in his hands. Edward quickly tried to transmute another wall of defense but the spells were flying at him too rapidly now he couldn't keep up with them and transmute at the same time. The more he moved the more his side felt like it was on fire. He ducked a few spells and was able to transmute his arm into a blade. He ran at one of the offending wizards and took a slice at his wand. He broke it in half. The man threw a punch which Edward ducked underneath, but a random spell hit him in the shins. He tripped over himself and he was hurled backwards into the crowd of wizards even farther. The shallow burning of his side was torn open into a roaring torment. He felt the warm liquid run down his stomach and soak his shirt. It officially reopened. As Edward let out a yelp of pain, another spell hit him in the side and he was quickly launched a few feet into the air. Mr. Robinson was screaming rather frightfully now as the spells from the fighting crowds grew stronger. Edward was hung upside down rather dazed alongside of the camp owner and his family. He felt the slowly leaking blood run up his chest now and around his neck. All of the terrified voices that swirled about him slowly rang together. He looked around lightheaded and noticed a few muggle born wizards were hanging up alongside them and being tossed about. They must have dropped their wands and the death eaters got them. The screams were muted in his mind and he looked around at the rushing people around him. They looked like ants panicking from a rainstorm. All of a sudden a flash of green was shot through the air and a weird snake like cloud was glowing in the sky. The death eaters that were below them suddenly disappeared and Edward felt himself falling towards the ground. Right before he hit the earth however, something caught him and he was carefully set on the burning grass. He felt some more blood rise in his throat and he quickly coughed it up onto the earth. He tried to stand up but he couldn't make it. His entire boy was encircled in pain. He only managed to prop himself up on his automail into a weird crouch.

"Edward!" he heard voices scream at him. He looked up and through his cloudy vision he saw Bill and Arthur race towards him. They knelt down beside him and flipped him over to his back a little too quickly. He coughed some more and red sprayed the air.

"Merlin's beard," Arthur yelped as Bill quickly ripped Edward's shirt off. His previous wound was only torn a little bit at the edges but it was enough to leak out an unkindly amount of blood. Edward groaned and tried to sit up but Arthur pushed him back down. "Edward, listen to me," he said quickly and calmly, "Where are the kids? Are they alright?" Edward carelessly waved his hand in the general direction of the trees. Arthurs head turned around to look where he was pointing.

"Woods, they're in the woods. Look after Fred," Edward grunted as he tried to sit up again. Arthur immediately shoved him back down. He nodded his head to his son.

"Bill go find them, tell Charlie and Percy to get the port key to bring everyone home," Arthur ordered as he reached around Edward's neck and ripped the amulet off. He handed it to the redheaded boy. "Take this with you. I will meet you back at the Burrow." Bill took one last worried glance at Edward and sped off down the way towards the woods. Edward grunted as Arthur took out his wand. His whole body shuttered a bit as cold sweat started to form on his head.

"What are you doing?" he grumbled. Arthur looked about him hastily. None of the Ministry folk seemed to notice that they were there or even that Edward was bleeding all over the ground. He carefully situated his arms underneath Edward's legs and shoulders as if he was about to pick him up. Just as he was about to stand, Edward felt a whirling sensation and his whole body seemed to stretch in and out of itself. The scene around them quickly changed from a chaotic field to the Burrow's dining room. Edward's side flared even more when they landed and he felt sick. More blood started to fill his mouth. He coughed and he heard Mrs. Weasley scream. Arthur raced about and cleared off the kitchen table and set him down on it.

"What happened!" Molly shrieked as she ran about the place trying to get some towels and cloth. She whipped out her wand and immediately cleaned the blood off of his abdomen and face.

"I don't know, but hurry Molly! We need to get him fixed! He's losing too much blood." Edward hissed as Molly wiped the wound down with a sanitized cloth and Arthur put a wet towel on his head which seemed to have its own scratches as well. A dampened cloth was set over Edward's eyes so he couldn't see. It was a little distressing, but helped cool down his burning head. He felt like he was on fire. There was a rush of bottles and Edward heard someone open on up. A light liquid was poured on his side and he felt the freezing potion seep down into the small cracks of his opening. There was a sudden pain and he growled but he felt his skin pull tighter against his side. The wound was closed up. A door swung open and several feet pounded in through the door.

"Mum! What's wrong with him?" Ron's voice rang out.

"Go upstairs and stay there!" she ordered frantically.

"Charlie set Fred down here," Arthur commanded. He heard a few shuffles and thuds as another body was laid down next to him. Edward coughed and pain tore up his side again.

"He's tearing up the stitches again!" Molly shouted as he felt another cloth press against his side. "Arthur, do something!" she ordered. Everything went black.

….

His eyes fluttered awake and he stared up at the ceiling of the Burrow. He wondered how he got there, but then he felt a dull throb in his side and on his head. He remembered. He looked around the quiet room he was in. It looked like he was in the living room. Several sheets were spread over the couch which he was laying on and he felt some gauze wrapped around his waist. He groaned a bit at his stupidity. There was a silent gasp and a few footsteps bounded over to him. Ginny's face poked over the side of the couch and looked straight into his.

"He's awake!" she shouted. The noise bellowed through the house and hammered his eardrums. He flinched and let out a small yelp. The girl quickly apologized but the room was flooded with the noise of the millions of Weasleys. Molly walked over to him and pulled a blanket off of him to check the gauze.

"Thank heavens," her tired voice muttered. Fred and George ran over to him and basically tackled him with a hug. Fred had a single bandage on his head where he must have gotten kicked. All of the bruises were easily fixed with magic. Edward groaned at the pressure and they quickly backed off.

"Edward, why did you have to do it mate?" Fred asked him quietly. Edward tried to sit up but found it almost impossible to move his body. Molly cleared the twins away from him and pushed him back down.

"You might be healed, but your blood levels aren't high enough to allow movement," she said stiffly. Edward looked at her. Her face was pink and her eyes were wet. She had been crying. His eyes widened at the shock and he looked about the room. Everyone was staring at him completely worried and quiet. "I think," Molly started again, "you owe us an explanation now." Her eyes blazed in a motherly fire that he had never seen before. "Edward, tell us the truth. These wounds aren't new. Tell us everything." He couldn't stand the hurt in her voice. He nearly choked at the pain they sounded with.

"I-I," he started but he cut himself short. Something wet started to cloud his vision. Molly looked around the room and cautiously waved all of the children out of it. She didn't want them to see him like this. Footstep slowly pounded up the stairs and out of sight. She looked back down at him.

"Now Edward, tell us everything," she said. He looked over at Arthur who was giving him the same look Molly was. He gave a shuddering sigh.

"Mrs. Weasley," he started slowly, "I just hope…. I hope you don't hold this against me.,,, When I was little, I did something stupid….." He told her. He told her everything and she sat there and quietly listened. Arthur seemed more shocked than Molly was giving gasps and astonishing comments here and there throughout the story. Mrs. Weasley however just sat there with a straight face and listened to everything. He told her about the transmutation, his surgery, Mustang, his father, he even told her about the Briggs mountain mishap. She listened silently without a word. With every word Edward felt worse. He fought back the tears as Molly just stared down at him unemotional. It was a mother's disapproval. He couldn't take it, but he didn't let himself cry. When it was all over, Arthur collapsed in a chair across from the couch he was lying on completely dumbfounded. Molly nodded her head and stood up from where she was kneeling and walked away. The silence was deafening. He stared up at the ceiling trying to tune out the silence, listen to anything with noise, but even the ticking of the clock seemed to stop. It was a few minutes before Mrs. Weasley came back into the room. She was carrying a cloth of some sort. She unfolded it and laid it across his chest like a blanket. It was then that he noticed that it was his red coat that he gave Ginny the other night. She sat down in a chair that was pulled up alongside the couch and pulled out some knitting that she was famous for. She didn't hold it against him.

"Get some rest," she said softly. "You blood needs to replenish itself. You should be up by the late afternoon if everything goes right." Edward nodded shallowly and looked up at the ceiling. Everything was probably going to be different from now on.

….

Edward slowly stretched out across the yard as his still weak body got use to the movement a over again. The only sign left that he was ever injured was a small pink scar where his stitches once were. Magic healed it a whole bunch. Molly told him that it never actually fully reopened so he didn't have as much damage as he had at Briggs, but the front cut was opened and his organs were a little disturbed which caused the incredible loss of blood and coughing. They were able to permanently close the wound and everything but the internal damage was still a little weak. He still had to be careful with everything.

It was a bright sunny evening and Mrs. Weasley sent him outside to get some fresh air after his day on the couch. He was getting overly fidgety and was grateful for the offer. Molly and Arthur caught the twins using what was called extendable ears and were now both scolding them and explaining everything to them inside. He was a little insulted that they would listen in like that, but he was relieved that he wouldn't have to explain his situation yet again to everyone. He took a few lunges across the yard and sat down on the warm late summer grass. It was comforting against his bare skin. Molly wouldn't allow him to wear a shirt until the next morning just incase something might go awry with his cut. She didn't want him covering his pain up anymore. He heard the screen door close and the children of the Weasleys came out on the yard. Edward looked up and saw Fred and George poke their heads into his field of vision. They didn't look like their usual chipper selves, but they weren't far off either. Fred took a seat next to him while George stood on the other side. They just sat there for a while.

"So," Fred said after a little bit of silence. The birds were chirping happily out in the fields. "you never answered my question from before," he added.

"Why did you do it?" Edward butted in for him remembering what he asked earlier. Fred and George both nodded. He gave them a simple shrug. "I was supposed to look after you. It was my fault that you didn't make it to the woods, so I went back to help you."

"You could have died though!" George said. "I didn't want to leave you! I could have stayed and helped protect you or something-"

"If you remember, you are talking to an older brother and a soldier," Edward noted quietly. He smiled up at them. "I do the protecting. You two protect each other, and your younger siblings. Your older siblings or elders will protect you in return. That is something that Mustang taught me."

"But you are the same age as us," Fred noted. Edward grumbled something to himself rather unpleasantly. Fred chuckled at the blonde's rage and shot up off of the grass to stretch out. "Seriously Edward, thank you," he smiled down at the cursing alchemist. Edward looked up at him and beamed. They all got up off the grass and walked back inside. Everyone was waiting in the kitchen for them with dinner out on the table. It was stew, Edward's favorite.


	5. Assessment

**Shabang, next chapter. Yay! Okay I hope you all like it. I will be writing over the weekend so there might be another up soon but this is all I got for right now. Thankyou for the reviews and don't worry, the story will start to pick up pace soon enough.**

CHAPTER 5

The Assessment

Everyone sat in the living room early the next morning. Molly was getting everybody around to go to Diagon Alley to pick up their new books and clothes. Arthur was sitting in his lazy chair waiting to go to work. The Daily Prophet was opened up and Edward could hear some silent cursing coming from him. There was an article about the events of the Quidditch cup and there was nothing nice to say about them at all. Apparently Arthur was called a coward for skipping out on the mob and not helping the rest of the ministry get everyone calmed down. In reality, the entire Weasley family knew that he was just taking Edward back to get patched up. He was not a coward, but the journalist really knew how to take a toll on a person. She wrote that Arthur failed to answer the pleas of his coworkers and attempted to run away in fear. Arthur nearly threw the paper across the room in anger, but luckily Edward caught it before it hit Ginny in the face. He flipped it open. There was a black and white photo of the strange green light that Edward saw appear in the sky. It looked like a snake coming out of a skull. Harry, Ron, and Hermione told him about it afterwards. It was the sign of the dark lord. Harry was actually accused of conjuring it since the place where Edward told them to hide was where it came from. Not only that, but it was casted by Harry's wand. Of course he was completely innocent but Edward wondered who stole his wand in the first place. This is one of the many reasons alchemy was better than magic, no one can take it away from you and you can't lose it. Edward read over the article for a bit. There was a couple of disturbing pictures on the inside as well, one of Mr. Robinson floating in midair. The journalist, called by the name Rita Skeeter, didn't say much about the poor muggles at all. It seemed like no one cared. All she wanted to do was throw trash around and wave her penmanship in people's faces. Edward let out a sigh and slapped the newspaper back down on the coffee table. He took a sip from a mug of hot cocoa which he still had from breakfast. Arthur was working up a storm and ranting about the article, which surprised everyone since Edward didn't know he could get so angry. Molly scolded the man for his foul language, but the twins seemed absolutely fine with it.

"Just think of what the people at work would think when they see this!" Arthur complained. "They are going to think that I ditched them, but I didn't! Lucius is going to wave this in my face I know it. I bet he would actually be proud that all of those muggles got hurt because of it!" Molly slapped Arthur across the back of the head warning him to shut up.

"Arthur, what did happen to Mr. Robinson? Is he alright?" Edward asked quietly. The wizard turned and looked at him. His eyes shone in complete depression. Edward was slightly worried that something actually terrible happened to him and his family. What if they were even more beaten than he was?

"He is alright Edward," Arthur replied. "So is his family. They were just under some complete trauma that the ministry had trouble with the memory charm. It will take a while for them to regain all of their senses but for now a little disorientation is better than remembering…. That." Edward looked down at the floor. It was inevitable that the ministry would have given them another memory charm for their troubles, however to perform it on something so drastic must have left the entire family in a twist. Edward wanted to pay them a visit, he really liked Mr. Robinson, but now it probably wouldn't be a good idea. He might accidentally stir up some forgotten memories. Arthur placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Edward, they will be fine. We all are fine. No one, besides you that is, got seriously hurt. The Robinsons will be safe." Edward nodded and looked over the front page of the newspaper again. The pictures were still moving and creating a dreadful scene in his mind. As his eyes skimmed it over one more time he caught sight of the date; August 20th. He nearly dropped the paper. It was his assessment day! Edward chucked the paper rather roughly down on the table and dashed upstairs for his papers. The Weasleys were rather confused for a few moments with his abrupt behavior. Edward snatched his duffle out from underneath his bed and tore the files out. He still needed to complete all of the work. He grabbed a pen out of his bag and started to scribble furiously. The only thing he got down was his basic information when the clock from the living room chimed. Everyone was about to leave. He stuffed the papers into his coat pockets and tore down the staircase.

"ARTHUR, WAIT!" he shouted as his mismatched feet hammered down the stairs. The red headed wizard looked like he was just about to dissappiriate as he had his traveling hat and cloak on. Molly was hustling all of the children closer to the fireplace with a strange green powder to send them to the market place. Panting, Edward shot over to the elder man and clamped his arms around his shoulders. "I need my assessment!" Arthur looked rather confused but then a lightbulb turned on.

"Oh! I nearly forgot you had to take that! Is it really the twentieth already?" Arthur mumbled to himself. Molly simply shrugged at his outbreak and sent the kids up the fireplace. The red headed wizard rooted around in his coat pockets for something and eventually pulled out his red amulet. "Here, I had to take it off of you in order to apperate with you back here. Bill gave it back to me when you were on the couch." He slung the thing over Edward's neck and quickly grabbed a strange looking knick knack off of one of Mrs. Weasley's shelves. Edward looked over to the fireplace but they were all gone. Arthur tapped it and the small elephant figurine lit up a bright blue for a second. It was a port key now. If Moly ever found out that Arthur turned one of her objects into a port key, she would kill him.

With a zap, zing, swirling and twirling sensation, they landed in an alley way of the streets of London. Edward clutched his stomach for a little bit as he tried to get his senses again. His gut was obviously still sore but luckily it wasn't open. Arthur let him take his time before they started to walk down the open streets to the government buildings. London was just as big as Edward remembered it from his shopping trip down there the previous year, but he didn't know where the Ministry of Magic head quarters could be located in a city as populated with muggles as that was. He doubted that any of the large and intricate monuments were in any case magical. Edward pulled the papers and pen out of his coat as they were walking and started to finish up the work that he obviously didn't do. There were several lines and boxes of useless information that Edward had no clue what they had to do with the job or even what they were in general.

"Arthur, what would I put for my wand core?" Edward asked him as the wizard strangely pushed him into a Public call box. It was quite squished in there as the thing was only made for one and a half people. Edward was pressed rather unkindly against the pane of the glass as Arthur fiddled with the machinery.

"I don't know what to say, I guess just leave it blank," Arthur mumbled as he pulled the phone jack and the booth started to shake violently. As if it was an elevator, the call box started to lower into the earth completely invisible to public eye. Edward was frightened for a moment but Arthur seemed completely fine with it. They came to a stop in a large underground building that was blustering with people. It was a bright and rather fast paced office. Edward noticed that the light that streamed through the windows seemed to be natural sunlight even though they were at least three stories underground. He stared in awe at the beautiful architecture of the golden laced building as Arthur pulled his half conscious body towards the Education corridor.

"Alright," Arthur told him as he took a stop outside of two rather large oak doors. Edward could hear large crowd of people chatting and arguing rather passionately from the other side. "I am going to be working just down the hall in the muggle section of the ministry. Your department is right in here, just finish your paperwork and hand it in. I am sure that everything will be alright. I will be back in a couple of hours. Just stay here," Arthur told him. Edward nodded his head as the man raced rather furiously down the hallway. He must have made him late for an appointment, he would be sure to make it up to him later but right now he had to deal with the rather furious voices growing on the other side of the door. He carefully pushed the oak doors open and walked in. Papers were flying everywhere and crowds of civilians were yelling at the poor office workers as they raced around trying to file complaints. Some of the parents were even hammering desks in order to attempt to grab the attention of the overwhelmed secretaries. Some strange looking wizards were trying to hold and calm down the crowd but to little success if any at all. As Edward walked in, the crowd started to rage more. Several arms grabbed out at him and tried to stop him but a man swiped them away and carried Edward off by the elbows. The strange wizard dragged him rather roughly through the crowd and tossed him through an open door into a quiet office space that wasn't bombarded by a million people.

"Boy, you should know better than to walk in the middle of mobs like that," Ludo Bagman said exhausted from fighting the crowds.

"Wh-what is going on here?" Edward asked rather flustered. Ludo locked the door as the raging voices grew louder. He clumsily walked over and sank down into a chair. Edward slumped down into his own across from him. This was not what he thought the ministry would act like.

"We are trying to hold a special wizarding event at school this year but some of the families are getting angry. Most of them are muggle parents of course and they don't know all of the details, but they are afraid of their children's participation."

"What do you mean participation? This event isn't going to kill anyone is it?" Edward shifted around a little nervously in his chair.

"Oh, I forgot that you don't know," Ludo exclaimed. "All of the teachers needed to be advised that we are holding the-" all of a sudden the doors slammed open and some flustered office workers barged in.

"Mr. Bagman, sir, we need your help! It is getting too crazy out here! You need to calm them down!" they shouted as they fought the angered crowd. Ludo shot out of his seat and raced towards the door.

"Edward, just put your papers on the desk when you're done!" he hollered back at them. "DON"T WORRY! PARTICIPATION IS BY AGE AND CHOICE! NO DANGER WILL HARM YOUR CHILDREN!" the man's voice rang out before they were silenced by the shutting door. Edward wondered what the hell that was all about but got back to his paperwork. He kind of felt sorry for the Colonel and his hatred for paperwork, but not really.

It took nearly two hours to finish all of the necessary information on the assessment, most of which was just basic information. Unfortunately Edward had no clue what they were asking half the time with all of the strange wizard talk. His nostril measurements? Most of the questions he guessed on and others he left blank. By the time he was finished and left the room however, the main office was cleared out and the riots were stopped. The only sign that there was any controversy at all was the hurricane of loose papers and desks thrown about the place, but even that was slowly being picked up and sorted by the owners. It was amazing at how fast magic can work. Arthur was not going to be finished with his work until another hour was over so Edward took a seat on a rather tussled bench near the door. Were the assessments really this easy? All he had to do was turn in a form. He didn't have to fight anyone or anything, unless you count the crowd that was there only a few hours ago. Edward sighed and slunk down in his seat as he waited for the minutes to tick by. Several papers whizzed over his heads as wizards fixed the room around him. Some people gave him funny looks wondering why a muggle was in the ministry, but their eyes didn't linger long. All of a sudden the doors flung open, nearly smacking Edward in the face and an angry looking man stormed into the education department. As the door swung away from his face, Edward immediately noticed that the man was limping rather furiously with the aid of a staff and a cheaply made prosthetic leg. He was carrying what looked like a teacher's assessment form in his hands.

"You there!" the man shouted. Some of the office workers looked rather startled at the man's outburst but he waved them on. It wasn't until the old guy turned around that Edward actually figured out he was talking to him. That was when Edward got his first glance at the beaten and absolutely dreadful looking face of the old wizard. It looked like someone took a bushwhacker to his face in an attempt to make it more charming. There were scars all over it and a bulging bobbling electric blue eye that looked like it was jammed rather reluctantly into his eye socket. The man hobbled over to him and stood rather menacingly in front of him. Edward stood up to face him, but the man just growled. "Boy, you are that alchemy teacher right?"

"Yes, I am Edward Elric," he stated flatly not really knowing where the man was going with that.

"Giving his name out like candy, how pathetic," he heard the man mutter to himself. He strangely started to limp away down the rows of desks leaving Edward standing rather confused at his desk. "Well boy, aren't you going to help me find where to put my bloody paper work or do you need an invitation?" Edward scurried over to the man rather confused but helped him out. The man was limping rather awkwardly, something Edward hadn't had to do since he got his automail, unless it was being fixed of course. When Edward walked into the empty room that he was ordered to put his paper work in, he found out that it was still lying on the table. No one picked it up yet to file it or review it or anything. The wizard scoffed at him and walked over to where the papers were laying on the table.

"So, lad, I just lay them here for anyone to pick them up and look at them, eh?" the man taunted him as he picked up Edward's files. The alchemist turned red in the ears as the man scanned over his papers. The man's grumpy grimace turned suddenly smoother as he read Edward's papers.. "What the hell is this?" the wizard started laughing as Edward tore the papers out of his hands defensively. He almost thought the man would fall over in his hysteria.

"You put carbon as your wand core? Half of that information is rubbish!" the man shouted in laughter. Yes, most of the answers Edward put down he didn't even understand himself, but what was he supposed to do? The man kept laughing, his electric blue eye swirling around in its socket in all directions. "That is witty and genius!"

"Wait, what?" Edward asked as the man's exclamation came totally off guard.

"Boy, the one thing someone can't do enough of is keep their personal matters personal," the man said handing Edward his own assessment papers. All of the boxes were left blank except for his name and the job he was rooting for.

"You are going for the Defense Against the Dark Arts profession?" he asked him curiously as he flipped through the completely empty paperwork that he held in his hands.

"Yup, and that is all the ministry needs to know about me," Alastor Moody chuckled at him. He glanced around the room with his abnormally large eye which halted just left of the door. "Ah, here we are," he grunted as he hobbled off towards the door. Edward was wildly confused but carried both stacks of paper work with him as he chased after the amazingly fast man. They exited the small room and Alastor immediately turned to the left which nearly caused them to run into a strange office worker. The old man yanked the papers out of Edward's arms and shoved them into the secretaries who looked rather flustered with the gruffness. "Merry Christmas," Alastor said and stormed down the hallway. Edward apologized to the secretary and chased after the man.

"Hey!" Edward hollered after him as Moody completely ignored him and walked down the halls. Just as Edward reached the man's side, the wizard's arm shot out in a punch. Edward ducked underneath it and completely on instinct, grabbed it and flipped him over throwing the wizard into the wall of the hallway. Instead of being shocked, hurt, or angry, the man looked rather excited.

"Now that's what I am talking about!" Alastor exclaimed as he clumsily tried to get to his feet. Edward held out his arm and helped the man up, but just as the wizard took hold, he flipped Edward over his back instead. He landed to the floor with a thud, making his gut tense up and hurt with a bolt of pain. Alastor stood over him with a grim smile. "You almost had it. You need to have constant vigilance!" Moody said as Edward scrambled to his feet.

"What the hell is wrong with you old man?" he shouted as he brushed off his coat and glared at the crazy lunatic wizard.

"I am teaching you a rather important lesson," Alastor said as he took a random swing at Edward with his staff. The alchemist ducked underneath it and ripped the weapon out of the man's grip.

"I get enough of this from my own teacher! I don't need it from a person I just met!" Edward scolded him and tossed the stick a rather good distance down the hall. Moody smiled and quickly whipped his wand. Edward stared at it a little confused that nothing happened but then all of a sudden something rammed him in the back of his head. The staff that he threw down the hallway flew right into Alastor's hand knocking him in the head on the way. Edward growled at him, but the man swung the staff and pointed it directly in his face.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he scolded. Edward raised an eyebrow at the guy's crazy behavior. Alastor chuckled and put his staff down. "You have potential boy, but don't go getting into too many fights yah hear? You must always be constantly vigilant, or else someone will sneak up on you and do something nasty like that hole in your gut. I don't think you got that from easing off in a lazy chair." Edward growled at him and glared.

"How did you know about that?" Edward asked him not taking his eyes off of the man. The electric blue eye was taking its time studying him as the other normal one stared back into his. Moody gave a crooked grin.

"I don't know about it, but I can see it plain as day. These eyes just don't see pictures yah know." Leaving Edward completely bewildered, the man turned around and started walking down the hallway. After a few seconds Edward chased after him for nearly the third time that day. Luckily the man didn't attack him again though. Edward studied the old geezer for a while as they walked in silence. He was surely strange, almost tying with Albus on the most senile list, but he sure knew how to make a lasting impression. Edward didn't know whether he liked him, or hated him, but he knew there was something about the old man that was somehow familiar. "Stop staring boy, you look like you've never seen a wizard before," Alastor stated. Edward's eyes quickly jotted down to the ground.

"So…. You're the new Defense teacher," Edward said flatly.

"Wow you really are smart kid, but not too big on the small talk are we?" Alastor laughed. "Well yes I am. You will be seeing a lot of me around the school this year, better get used to it." Edward's stomach did a flip, it definitely wasn't in joy. An entire year with a crazy maniac. Alastor stopped walking and turned around to him. They were in a corner of the corridor where no one seemed to have any particular interest in.

"Look lad," the man whispered to him rather seriously. "You have been getting a lot of attention in the newspapers lately, but I wouldn't go flaunting it around. People might take an interest in you that you don't want any business with. Alchemy as I have heard is a fairly powerful art, some people might want to take advantage of that." He stared at him for a while as his electric blue eye swirled around in his skull checking their surroundings. Edward was extremely confused by the man's sudden change in demeanor. Just as he was going to ask what the heck he was talking about, there were a pair of footsteps running down the hall. Moody casually walked a few paces away as if nothing was going on between them. Arthur popped his head out around the corner and smiled.

"Edward! There you are! When you weren't in the office I thought you got lost or something!" the man's overly happy voice rang out. When the red head got a look at the old crazy wizard his face seemed to flicker a little bit in uncertainty but it was barely noticeable. "Hello, Moody, I see you have taken the teaching job Dumbledore asked you to." The man let out a rather annoyed grunt and limped down the hallway out of sight. Edward could still feel the gaze of the weird blue eye on him as the words Constant Vigilance rang in his ears. Arthur let out a tiny sigh as he herded Edward back towards the exit of the government building.

"He sure has lost it ever since he retired," Arthur mumbled to himself. The alchemist looked at him rather questionably.

"I now he is a bit crazy, but I got the impression that he always was like that," Edward said to him. Arthur shook his head sadly.

"He was actually a skilled auror before he was forced into retirement by the ministry. Went into many battles and imprisoned many death eaters an rogue wizards. However, retirement didn't suite him as much as he thought it would. Still thinks all of the criminals are after him and he went a bit loopy since then. Stupefied a muggle postman because he thought that he was spying on him. However, he is a good man and I am glad to see that he is getting back into society. Maybe a teaching job is all he needs," Arthur said. Edward took a glance behind them at the spot where he once was talking to the old crazy man. He never would have guessed it, but that was probably why he was so good at the job he used to have. Constant vigilance seemed to still be working for the wizard.

…

Edward returned to the Burrow with the port key to find that everyone returned back with their new school supplies. Several books, chests, cauldrons, and quills were scattered around the living room while the kids packed for school. There was only three days left until they leave for Kings Cross station. Edward didn't know whether to feel excited, angry, or upset to have to leave not only Amestris but the Burrow as well to go back to school and teach a bunch of snot nosed kids (aside from the current house residence of course). Edward snuck up the staircase as Arthur was getting a beating from Mrs. Weasley for using one of her precious knick knacks as a port key. She was absolutely furious. Back in the twins' room he saw the two red heads packing their clothes into traveling trunks rather messily. They seemed to be very excited to leave. He noticed however that there were several boxes of colourful candies and random materials out as well. They looked like the false wands that Mrs. Weasley was always ranting about. He constantly heard the two boys getting scolded at for their witty and rather foolish inventions that they were creating. They however, seemed reluctant to give up their studious industry just to please their mother's complaints. George put a box of crème tarts into the bottom of his trunk and carefully placed an old knitted sweater over it covering the delicacies from view. Edward flopped down on the small cot on the opposite side of the room and pulled out his duffle bag.

"You should probably hide them until later so that when your mother comes to check your trunks she wouldn't see them," Edward noted. George and Fred turned around surprised to see him sitting there. Not only that, but they were completely shocked to hear Edward giving them advise on how to keep them from getting caught. Edward shrugged their befuddled stares aside. "Hey, it is only a thought," he muttered and unzipped his bag to pack his own things. The twins quickly took out all of their products (which was a lot) and stuffed them underneath their matrices and under the loose floorboards of their room. Edward was actually amazed to see that they were able to alchemically zap the boards shut over it. Very impressive.

"You know you aren't supposed to do magic outside of school," Edward grinned at them a little too proud of their application.

"But if we remember," the twins said together.

"You said alchemy wasn't magic," George said with a rather mischievous smile.

"Touche," he retorted. He took his few red coats out of the drawers the twins lended him and folded them. He stuffed them into his bag. The twins, being finished with their trunks scurried over to his side of the room and rather annoyingly started to sift through his things.

"Is this all you own?" Fred asked him. The canvas duffle was small to begin with and only carried his few amounts of clothes, shoes, and paper work. He had almost half of the amount of things the students would be taking to school. Edward shoved them away from his duffle bag and stuffed his last pair of boots into it.

"I don't need a lot since I am traveling all of the time. I carry light so I can move around a lot. I only have a few spare clothes at the Rockbelles house." Edward muttered. George poked his head into the drawer that he was emptying and pulled out the blue cloth of his military uniform. Though he was now rather unwelcomed by the Amestrian government, he still had to wear it on formal occasions. He absolutely hated it, even worse than last year. George was examining the uniform rather fondly. Edward grumbled and stuffed the thing back into the drawer against the kid's complaints. Fred dug through the drawers like his brother did before him a pulled out the little hat that matched the uniform. He placed it on his head rather sloppily. Edward knocked it by the brim off his head and let it fall to the floor.

"This isn't dress up," he muttered. George picked up the hat and then placed it sideways on his own head and took a look in the mirror.

"You're lucky you have this uniform Edward," Fred said as he looked as his brother strut around the room now adorned with the jacket that he pulled back out of the drawers.

"Why would I ever be lucky to have to wear a thing like that?" he asked him. George was having a little too much fun wearing his clothes.

"Well, they aren't that bad looking. You should see the dress robes mum is forcing Ron to wear this year. They are hideous."

"Wretched," George added.

"Ancient. At least with a uniform you know what you are going to look like," Fred said.

"Dress robes? Why are you needing dress robes?" Edward questioned but the boys shrugged pitifully. George took off the hat and tossed it back into the drawer that it once occupied.

"No one will tell us. It just said on the list of school supplies to bring dress robes," George stated still checking himself out with the coat on. He looked at the medals coming off of him and the several unnecessary decorations that the uniform came with.

"We thought you might know since you are a teacher and all," Fred admitted. Edward didn't know that there was going to be anything super formal that even the students had to dress up in. It was bad enough that he had to wear the uniform on holidays. He shook his head sadly.

"I don't know half of what is going on in your world. No one told me that there was going to be anything like this," Edward admitted. He remembered that Ludo seemed to wanted to tell him something along the lines but he wasn't able to finish. Edward shrugged it off. They would find out soon enough. Hogwarts was arriving sooner than he thought. The twins went back to their own beds as their brother Ronald stormed in carrying a absolutely hideous rag. It was covered in frills and Edward could smell the stench coming off of it, mothballs.

"I want you to shred this!" Ron cried as he tossed the nasty thing at his brothers. They dodged the piece of cloth like it was the plague. "It isn't fair that you two and Percy get new robes! I am stuck with the thing that would have been fashionable in Merlin's time!"

"Oh, Ronnykins, don't you see? Seniority matters to this family," George taunted his brother.

"Yes, when we are old and grey that is when you get to have the new suits," Fred added as if touched by fond memories.

"When you are old and grey it will be too late!" Ron argued. Edward walked over to the bed and picked up the ugly piece of fabric. There was an unnecessary amount of lace coming off of it and stains covered the inner linings. It was like George said earlier, wretched. He tossed it back to the kid.

"Why don't you just fix it?" Edward stated the obvious. "There has to be some sort of magical doodad to make that thing look better. If you get rid of it then you will have nothing." Ron glared at the thing. Edward didn't have full confidence in Ron's tailoring abilities but one fact stood true; he couldn't make it look worse. A little upset, Ron stormed back to his own room and left them all in peace.

"You know Edward," George started, "for not knowing magic, you seem to know it better than some of us." Edward scoffed as he walked back to his bag to finish packing.

"It is called logic."


	6. The Express

**Told you I was excited for this chapter! I love weekends because I could write all day if I wanted to. Well, anyway. This is the next chapter. I hope you all like it. Thankyou for the reviews and everything. I am glad to hear that so many of you like the story so far!**

CHAPTER 6

The Express

Edward grumbled awake on the early morning of September the first. The wild rainstorm threw his ports in a knot as the water hammered the glass windows and occasionally found its way through the roof of the burrow. George and Fred were already running up and about trying to get all of their last minute provisions together for the trip back to school. Edward stared rather grumpily at his blue uniform. Knowing that he would have to put it on eventually, he got up to start the long exhausting day.

Down in the kitchen, Arthur was talking madly to the fireplace while Mrs. Weasley made breakfast for everyone. Harry and Hermione were watching the red headed wizard excitedly as he scribbled rather important notes down on a piece of paper with a short red quill. Edward heard another man's voice coming out of the fireplace as Arthur spoke into it. Why didn't wizards just use phones? He collapsed down in a chair next to Harry as he began to rub his shoulder ports. Mrs. Weasley set a plate of hot steamy eggs and pumpkin jam in front of him as she eyed his appearance.

"Edward, fix your hair and straighten your clothes. I don't want you to go back to school looking like that!" Molly scolded him. His golden locks were tussled and put up in a ponytail rather terribly while the jacket of his uniform was wrinkled and halfway on. He wore only the right shoe and his belt was not fastened. Edward really didn't want to wear the uniform so he wasn't going to fully get ready until right before they leave, but Mrs. Weasley gave him a stern stare. Forgetting his sore arm, he quickly braided his hair and fixed his jacket in an attempt to get out from underneath Molly's motherly glares.

"What is Arthur doing, Mrs. Weasley?" Edward asked as he tied his left boot on his metal foot. Fred and George came down dragging their trunks into the overcrowded living room. Molly shrugged as she set a few more plates down for them.

"The Ministry called him. Something urgent I suppose. They don't really call if it isn't," she mumbled. The twins sat down and started gobbling up their plates. Ron slunk down the stairs with his own trunk nearly toppling over from the weight. Edward got up to help the kid carry his over packed case to where all of the others were sitting. Arthur threw a bucket of water on the hearth after their call supposedly ended. He stormed around the living room for a while. Everyone watched in silence as they waited for an explanation. Edward helped himself to a third plate of eggs while Arthur was thinking. The warm food made his limbs feel better in the rainy weather. Why did it always have to be raining on the first day of school? Arthur grabbed his cloak off of the rack and walked over to the table where they were eating.

"Molly, I need to go on a trip this morning. Madeye got charged again for misuse of magic. Right before the school year too," Arthur muttered. "You will be able to take everyone to the station, yes?"

"Arthur, what happened?" Molly asked him. Arthur shook his head as he straightened his robes over his shoulders and took his wand out of his pocket.

"He blew up some dustbin apparently, in front of muggles and all. Started to jinx the place up," Arthur noted. "Diggory didn't tell me much on the subject though."

"Why in the world would he do that?" Edward asked as he swallowed another mouth full of eggs. "Something had to have provoked him or something."

"Supposedly he said that he was attacked. Someone was sneaking around his house and started firing at him first, but when the muggle please-men got there, it was only him." Edward raised his eyebrow at the man.

"Please-men?" he asked. Arthur started flustering about trying to explain what he meant. Apparently muggle vocabulary, as well as occupations, weren't too familiar to wizards as well as their fashion. "Police men, Arthur. It is police men," Edward clarified for him. The red head quickly jotted down the word on a piece of paper and crammed it back into his robe pockets.

"Thank you," Arthur said as he headed towards the door of the house. "Molly, I will be back this evening. I am sorry for the sudden rush!" he called back over his shoulder. With a crack the man disappeared from the doorway. Molly let out a tiny sigh as she put Arthur's untouched plate in front of Edward who was still going at breakfast full heartedly.

"I do hope that he is alright," she said as she too sat down for breakfast.

"Who is Madeye?" Harry asked the lot of them. Several of the younger kids shrugged their shoulders, but Percy butted in.

"He is a retired auror from the Ministry," Percy said.

"Went bonkers and was never sane since," George added. Edward slapped the boy over the head for his comment.

"I would like to hear you say that too his face this evening," Edward dared him threateningly. "Alastor Moody is your new Defense teacher." His student's jaws dropped and some of breakfast fell out. Edward grinned at them. Not only did he have to put up with Moody, but so did them. Breakfast went over as smoothly as it could have after Edward dropped the bomb about their new teacher. Mrs. Weasley got everyone ready for in the living room for their trip to the station. Three rather small taxi cabs were waiting just inside the small village for them. Edward had taken the walk down with Molly to help her order them. She was still quite confused on the whole telephone ordeal. It wasn't a far walk, only five miles, but carrying the luggage that they were was definitely a pain. The wizards actually took the floo network into a small house just outside of town. It was owned by a friend so they weren't intruding on any one muggle family. Charlie offered to take Edward by port key since he couldn't use the network. Edward latched his small duffle bag around his shoulders as they prepared to take off. They used an old sock that Harry gave them to get there. He had to guess that it was Uncle Vernon's because of how large, gross, and smelly it was. Picking it up rather reluctantly, both him and Charlie sped off through the air and landed in a back alley of the village as planned. Charlie deactivated the port key as soon as they got there since he wouldn't need it to get back. Having to travel by port all the time was a really pain in the neck for not just Edward but everyone else as well since someone had to create and deactivate the port all the time.

It was still pouring out when they met up with the rest of the family at the muggle post office for the cabs. Edward and Charlie were drenched in comparison to the rest of them since they were outside for the entire time while they got to stay inside and travel by the warmth of the fireplaces. When the taxi cabs came, they stuffed their trunks into any crack or crevice they could find in the vehicles. There were nine of them and three cabs. Harry could tell that everyone was going to be very uncomfortable for the entire ride. Fred had a suitcase stuck in his ribs while Harry was crammed against the window with Hedwig's cage. That was one bird who wanted her personal space. Edward was stuffed into a car with Ginny and Hermione. They were actually all pretty lucky since Edward didn't have an overbearing trunk to stuff in the back and they were all comfortable with their fairly small statures. Edward did like to brag that it seemed he took up the most room in counter to any short comments that either of the girls made. The trip to Kings Cross station was long, boring, and not to mention painful for Edward's weather hating ports. However, everyone made it there without suffocating to death. Crookshanks was rather glad to get out of the car and into the rain. It seemed that it too hated being crammed into the back seat of the car.

Edward put his hat on to keep the rain out of his face. He didn't quite care that his uniform was getting wet with the rain since he was wearing the long rain coat with it but everyone else didn't seem to be fighting the weather that well either. They were all trying to cover themselves up with spare blankets or jackets. Aside from his hurting ports, Edward was the best off. As the Taxi drivers helped unload the luggage, Harry helped Percy pay for them with the English money. Harry even took the time to show Edward a little bit of the currency as well. He only managed to memorize one bill when Fred's trunk exploded. A few waterproof sparklers were set off in his trunk when the driver threw it rather harshly across the pavement. Molly didn't say anything but gave the kid a glare that Edward knew could beat the life out of anyone willing to fight it. Fred cowered away while everyone tried to pick up his now soaking wet things and stuff them back into the slightly burnt trunk. The drivers were a bit alarmed but actually weren't suspicious or curious as to why it happened.

They raced through the station towards the platform with all of their trunks in tow. It was nearly time to the train's departure. Charlie had to wait up for Edward a couple times because he kept getting trampled by the traffic of the crowds. They just couldn't see that he was walking there. It took them a while but they finally managed to make it to platforms nine and ten, soaking wet from the rain. Edward saw that the Weasleys were all taking their turns to go through it. Fred and George went together with their luggage strapped to carts. Edward was the only one who didn't have to haul around anything too spectacular and obvious. It was a wonder why any of the muggles didn't thing that several horribly dressed people with owls and strange pets weren't the least bit weird or suspicious. Molly herded him through the platform. Edward took his steps through the wall with care because he remembered that the first time he was there with Hagrid he smacked his face off of the bricks. He just wanted to make sure his amulet was working right. The train whistle on the Hogwarts Express sounded off as people were rushing to and fro trying to give last goodbyes to everyone.

"Now, stay safe everyone," Molly said as she gave all of her sons a hug and a kiss good bye. "Harry, I would invite you over for Christmas but I am thinking you might want to stay at school this year for the …. Well for one reason or another." Harry looked utterly confused as she hugged him as well. Fred and George were whispering back and forth to each other quietly.

"I expect to be visiting you sometime later in the year if everything goes right," Charlie said to Ron.

"Why? You don't go to school anymore," the little red head stated flatly to his older brother. The man chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"You will see soon enough, I will send an owl," Charlie smiled.

"What aren't you guys telling us?" the twins said together. They glanced at Edward for some help but he shrugged. He had no clue what this big event was that everyone was dropping hints about. The train whistle blew and Edward started to herd all of the students into the compartments. He counted them off as they got in, each one giving one last wave to their brothers, mother, and friends. After counting the last one, Edward took a step up onto the train but felt someone pull the jacket of his coat. He was pulled back off of the train and spun around rather furiously, his hat almost fell off. Mrs. Weasley took him into a big hug so suddenly it caught him completely off guard. He found his entire being go frigid with utter confusion, yet the warmth of the hug seemed to warm his aching ports more than he ever would have thought. After a few moments, Molly took a step back from him and shoved him back towards the train.

"You….. You take care of my boys now yah hear? Ginny and Hermione too, all of you," Mrs. Weasley smiled as she waved him back onto the train. Edward still a little dazed nodded to her weakly and stumbled a bit onto the step of the train. Charlie, Bill, and Molly waved at him as the wheels started to whine.

"Mrs. Weasley!" Edward called out as they started to move away. "Thank you!" Every child of all age stuck their heads out the window to wave to their parents in the chaos of the moment. Edward waved along with the red heads to their waiting family on the platform. The train whirled out of sight leaving anyone not on it in a cloud of steam and heavy hearts.

Edward climbed all the way inside the train to regain his composure a bit before looking for a compartment to sit in for the evening. He found one along with Harry, Hermione, and Ron. He kind of wished that he could have sat somewhere else but they were all full or filled with first years. He didn't want to scare his potential students before the year officially started. Edward let out a sigh and flopped down on one of the seats across from Hermione and Ron. He took his hat and coat off and tossed them clumsily beside him.

"No, Ron, schools like Hogwarts and Durmstrang are hidden. They can't be found unless you know the location. Several anti-muggle wards are placed around them as well," Hermione said to the kid already neck deep in a conversation.

"Edward, did you know this?" Ron asked sounding rather interested in the conversation. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I knew there were wards and stuff…. But what is a Durmstrang?" he asked curiously. He sipped his dress jacket off and unlaced his shoes a bit. It was a long ride till they got to Hogwarts and all.

"Durmstang is another magic school but it specializes in the Dark Arts. Draco has been saying that he would have preferred to go there instead," Hermioned noted. "It is somewhere in Bulveria but to be exact, no one knows."

"Well, I don't have much knowledge about schools to be exact but I don't think that it really matters where you go," Edward said as he alchemically dried himself off along with his clothes. The others looked at him longingly and he gave in. He went around and dried them al off as well.

"Edward, surely you would have went to some sort of school when you were little, right? Before your teacher took you in?" Harry stated questionably.

"Well, yeah but I was really young at the time. The last time I actually was at a school was when I was six," he said as he rested his arms behind his head. Their jaws dropped at his statement and Edward looked at them awkwardly. "What?"

They talked back and forth for a while as the train rode on into the countryside. The rain was relentless and Edward eventually had to pull himself out of the conversation to go find some relief from his aching ports. The only thing he found worthwhile was the trolley lady who gratefully gave him some hot Pumpkin cider for his troubles. He bought a gallon of it. When he returned to the compartment, he found that the trio were joined by Neville and Seamus who were all in a headlong conversation about the Quidditch cup, of course leaving out the parts about the mobs and death fireworks. Ron was engaged in a fan club of one of the players named Viktor Krum. He pulled out a small figurine that he got from the games. All of the boys were marveling over it while Hermione sat in the corner rolling her eyes. Edward took a longing sip from the hot cider he bought and it cooled the pain in his arm and leg almost instantly. He let out a relieved sigh. All of a sudden the door to the compartment flew open and there stood Draco, with his friends Vincent and Gregory standing behind him. Edward knew that he was only there to pick a fight and he secretly wished that he could have found something more productive to do, or even tried to make friends with them. Malfoy took one glance at the small figurine Ron was holding and scoffed at it.

"Weasley, I hoped that you enjoyed your time at the Cup because it would probably be your last time ever coming face to face with a famous Quidditch player ever again," Draco sneered. His two friends behind him snickered a bit, but it sounded more like someone gargling marbles. Draco took in a prideful glance at all of the angered looks he was getting from the students in the car. Edward sat there drinking his warm steamy cup of cider, trying to stay out of the conversation unless needed. Draco didn't seem to notice him there in the corner.

"What is that?" Draco said pointing to an ugly drapery that was thrown over Ron's owl cage. It was the dress robes that the red head loathed, frilly and lacey as ever. "Are you planning on wearing them to the formal? Maybe if your tried to enter, you could win the cash award and buy yourself a decent dress robe, or even a better house." The poor ginger turned beat red as he rushed to try and stuff the robes into his trunk. Unfortunately that disturbed the hyperactive little owl Pigwidgeon and it started hooting like crazy. Edward tossed his military rain coat over it and the bird immediately shut up. Draco turned a bit white as he suddenly realized that there was a teacher in the car. Edward stared him down as Hermione tried to keep both Ron and Harry from tackling the kid.

"What are you talking about Draco?" he asked a little sternly. The kid took a few steps back out the door. Before he could answer anything, Hermione accidentally let go of Ron and he bolted forward and chased the lot of them out of their car. As the three Slytherins ran away scared, Edward grabbed the hem of Ron's jacket and dragged him back inside of the compartment. He closed the door a little too harshly and the glass of the door's window shattered. Edward flinched a bit as the glass trickled to the floor, but Hermione fixed it with a wave of her wand. He turned to see that the door now remained in one unshattered piece and shined almost good as new. Spinning back around he turned on the red head.

"Ron!" he scolded the boy. "He was just about to say something important! You could have waited for Draco to finish!"

"He was insulting my family!" the kid retorted.

"I didn't mean that what he was saying was right, but he was going to say something about the event that was going to happen this year! He obviously knows!" Edward said a little disappointed that he still didn't know anything about what was happening that year. Ron sank down in his seat obviously still angry, but he kept quiet. Edward rubbed the bridge of his nose and sat next to his still warm cider.

The compartment was relatively quiet for the rest of the train ride. Everyone started to get dressed into their school robes when they were crossing the marshy fields near the school. Edward was glad to see that there were no dementors this year searching the train. He really did not want a repeat of last year. Everyone was dressed by the time the train came to a stop. Edward had his entire uniform on perfectly including his hat and raincoat. He was slightly afraid that Mrs. Weasley would find out if he wasn't wearing it correctly again and come murder him for it. Ron was still pissed when they all got off of the train together and the rain wasn't helping. Hagrid was standing off to the side of the platform waving all of his first years in his direction. As they passed, Hagrid waved happily to them.

"Hiya, Harry!" he shouted with his overly joyous face shining brilliantly through the dark sky like a beacon. "Can't wait for the feast this year, just hope we don't drown before getting there!" As if on cue, the rain started to pour even harder. Edward grumbled a bit and turned the collar of his coat up.

"Hagrid, stay safe on the boats okay?" Hermione said as the three of them started to walk down the path towards the woods. Hagrid waved out to them but right before Edward could make his leave, the giant caught the back of his jacket, pulling him to a stop.

"Whoa, Edward. Minerva wanted you to help me with the first years this year. She wanted you to help me get them all in the boats an everything," Rubeus smiled at him. Edward silently cursed the transfigurations teacher. She always went out of her way to nearly torture him with work. It wasn't that she was specifically hard on him, it just so happened that whenever she gave him a job, it was in bloody weather like this. Edward groaned and pulled his hat down a little farther over his head. He was going to have a serious talk with McGonagall after this. The crowd of first years gathered around them and started gaping at either the scenery of at the two professors standing in front of them. Edward felt extremely belittled standing next to the half giant like that. It was definitely not complimentary to his actual height. When the train was finally emptied, they led all of the young students down a muddy path and to the edge of the lake. Edward saw that there were several boats lined up around the place but none of them had oars or any type of motour with them. He bet a buck that they were powered with magic. They put four kids to a boat and then pushed them off into the water. Edward climbed into a slightly larger vessel with Hagrid and they were set off as well. The waves of the lake were choppy and rather furious with the rain and wind the way they were and Edward gripped the wooden bench of the boat rather fretfully. The giant man didn't seemed bothered by anything at all as he was smiling all the way though the rain.

"Hagrid, these boats don't tip…. Over do they?" Edward asked nervously as he gazed over the side and into the black depths of the lake. He didn't like it that he couldn't see the bottom.

"Edward, don't you trust them?" Hagrid questioned him innocently. What trust a boat?

"I can't swim," he shouted over the roaring rain. Hagrid looked a little flabbergasted at his statement.

"If you couldn't swim, you should have said so!" Hagrid scolded him. "I wouldn't have made yah come if you said so!" Edward looked around at the other boats. The students were gazing around at the beautiful castle that was growing ever closer. Some were dangling over the sides of the boats rather dangerously while others huddled together to keep warm from the weather.

Edward was very relieved when they finally were able to doc the boats and get out. He climbed out and helped some of the soaking wet first years out and underneath the safety of the roof of the Recession hall. There were a lot of them to say the least, but it didn't take much time at all since some of the other students helped out as well. McGonagall entered the Hall and stood in front of the small crowd of soaking wet students. Edward took his rain coat off and slung it over his forearm. Several of the first years gaped in awe as his uniform's obnoxious blue colour spilled out across the room. McGonagall was going to make introductions when Edward heard a cackle right above his head. SPLASH! A giant red water balloon was dropped right over his head as he looked up. Peeves the Poltergeist was laughing and jumping about throwing them everywhere and laughing at all of the scattering first years. So much for first impressions. The poltergeist chuckled and danced about as he lobbed the water filled balloons over the students. Though they wre already wet, having more water chucked at them wasn't fun. One poor kid fell off of the dock and into the water getting completely soaked. Edward growled a bit and clapped his hands together. Peeves was too busy having a fun time to realize a giant slab of stone from the ceiling come down and nail him in the back. The poltergeist let out a small yelp and sped off down the hall leaving the first years clapping with joy at his use of magic. He ran over to the edge of the dock and held out his hand to the kid to fish him out of the water. He was just glad that the boy could swim. The boy was shaking cold from the freezing water he was dumped into so Edward clapped his hands and dried the boy off. Several voices of amazement rang out in the hall. McGonagall gave him a thankful nod and then started to calm the kids down as she continued her speech. She gave a small overview of what the sorting would entitle. Edward only caught something about a strange looking hat and the different houses. He wasn't there in time for the sorting the previous year so he didn't know what it enticed.

"Hey! Are you the person who blew up the school's fields?" Edward glanced down at the kid he took out of the water, and raised his eyebrow. He looked quite familiar now that he had a good view of him. The boy practically looked like the younger embodiment of Colin Creevey. The same dorky smile was sewn across his face and his eyes glimmered in the exact same way Colin's did to Harry. However, he didn't blow up the field, he just desolated them a bit when Mustang came up for his assessment. Obviously whoever was feeding this boy information liked to exaggerate a bit.

"What is your name again?" Edward asked him. The kid's face lit up with utter excitement.

"I am Dennis Creevey!" he said rather happily. A bell in the hall sounded and McGonagall opened the double doors. They were herded into the Great Hall where the tables were lined with the usual coloured arrangements and the students cheered as they caught sight of the new first years. McGonagall came to a stop near the front of the hall and stopped by a strange looking stool with an ugly and rather beaten witch hat lying upon it. She wasn't lying about the hat. The hall quieted down as everyone slowed down. The hat started to wiggle back and forth a bit to Edward's surprise, and then all of a sudden it broke out in song. The alchemist jumped a bit and clung on in fear to Hagrid who was next to him. A few of the students from the tables next to him let out a few hushed snickers as the hat kept on singing, ignoring Edward's outburst. As the hat came to a close on its very extremely long song, McGonagall called out the name of the first student to come and sit upon the stool. Edward was very shocked to see that the instant the hat was placed upon the person's head, it shouted out one of the houses and the student would them go galloping off to their new table. Dennis waved to his brother who was sitting across the hall at the scarlet Gryffindor table. The kid was ecstatic even after falling into the murky depths of the Black Lake. The boy didn't realize his name was called until Edward had to give him a little shove forward. Dennis was a Gryffindor. After every one of the first years was called, Edward and Hagrid walked up to the high table to take their seats while Minerva put the hat and the stool away behind the Headmaster's podium. Edward took his seat across from Severus and next to Poppy like he did the year before, the only difference was that Remus's seat was empty. He knew that the man wouldn't be coming back that year, being replaced by Alastor Moody, but it still felt lonely without him. Dumbledore gave the word for the food to be delivered and the plates instantly filled up with delicious gems of chicken and crowns of ribs. Edward smiled at the food and piled his plate full of it. The good warm steam that rose off of them warmed him up quickly. Poppy noticed how he must have been relishing in the glories of the warmth and leaned over to him.

"When we are done here, you can get that climate spell again," she said to him. He used them all last year when the weather got bad and though they weren't permanent they did help with the nasty annoyance of his ports. Unfortunately, the sudden realization hit him that the nurse would most likely do a check up on him as well and then find the scars of his encounter with the Briggs support beam. He turned a bit pale with the epiphany that Poppy noticed and gave him a grueling look. Severus smiled a bit at him as he remembered Edward's state when he picked him up from the mountains earlier that month. The man knew what storm the alchemist was going to be heading into. They ate a while and talked about their summers and other things. No one, however, could fail to notice that their Defense teacher still wasn't there. Edward remembered that he got into some trouble earlier that day with the ministry, but he didn't think that it would take him that long to get there.

Dumbledore was already starting the closing speech. It was basically the same as last year though, no forbidden forest, banned items, curfew. Edward only really paid attention when a loud uproar came amongst the students. The faculty all smiled but Edward was in complete confusion.

"Yes, I am sad to say that the Quidditch cup won't happen this year, but," he said above all of the complaints. Everyone seemed to hush down immediately when the headmaster said that word. "I am proud to announce that it is due to a special event that will be starting in October and then running through the end of the year. Hogwarts is going to be the admirable host to the special event of the-"

CRASH! All of a sudden the back door to the hall swung open and a soaking wet form of Alastor Moody stepped forward. Lightning flashed across the bewitched sky creating a very dramatic opening entrance to the school year. The students' whispers started to pick up again as Moody made his way up to the front of the Hall. His dull uneven footsteps rang out and echoed around the room as all eyes were trained on him. The swirling blue vortex that was his eye twirled around in his skull and took in the entirety of the room in one sweep. Edward felt the gaze of the eye land on him more than once in the course of his walk up there. The man shook Dumbledore's hand apologetically for his entrance and sat down next to Edward. Though most of the teachers seemed to be disturbed by the man's entrance, Edward had to give the man props. He was late exactly like him the year prior but his rather obnoxious entrance of kicking the doors down was not as abrupt or entertaining as Alastor's was. Dumbledore took a moment to regain his senses and then turned back towards the student body.

"Well, I would like to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Alastor Moody." The introduced teacher gave a gruff nod to the students and then turned back to the rest of the High Table. He reached down into his pocket and took a swig of some sort of nasty looking drink from his canteen on his hip. Something seemed off with the man, but Edward couldn't place his finger on it. Maybe it was because he wasn't attacking him shouting CONSTANT VIGILANCE everywhere he went, but something was definitely different in the man from the Ministry of Magic just a few days ago.

"As I was saying before hand, Hogwarts has the honour this year of being the hosts for the special event of the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore announced. The students went into an uproar.

"YOU'RE JOKING!" Edward heard the Weasley twins shout clear as day. Dumbledore must have heard them too as he smiled at the two boys.

"No, I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," the headmaster said cheerfully, "but if you want to hear one, I do a have a few good jokes you might want to hear later." The hall turned quiet as they didn't really understand what Dumbledore was saying. Some humour was just misunderstood. The headmaster let out a small sigh and continued.

"Though most of us, like the Weasleys, know what the tournament is about, some of us do not," Dumbledore said giving a small glance in Edward's direction. "The tournament is one that takes three champions, one from each of the neighboring magic schools, and puts them into a series of three obstacles that test their endurance, cleverness, bravery, and strength. It is happening here at Hogwarts with the aid of Mr. Ludo Bagman the Game keeper at the Ministry. At the end of October, two schools will join us for the year, Durmstang and Beauxbatons. They will join in our classes, our meals, and our activities until the end of the tournament. I hope that you will keep in mind that our reputation, not just as a school, but as a community as a whole rests in the behavior of all of you.

"Along with the honour of the cup, there is a small award to the winner of the tournament. Those of you wishing to enter may do so at the end of October. But I will like to remind you that some restrictions may apply. Only put your name in if you are really wanting to do this, to risk everything for the competition all the way through. Those picked for the tournament are bound by magical contract so no backing out. The volunteers for the cup also have to be a student, and that student needs to be at least seventeen years of age to join. This is for your own safety that these regulations are in place." An uproar from the lower classmen came forth as it seemed that everyone wanted to join in the tournament. The twins seemed especially displeased with this. Edward knew that they would be turning seventeen, like him, at the end of the year. They weren't possibly able to put their name in for the cup. The headmaster waved his hands to calm down the rest of the crowd but the students didn't seem to notice. Edward put two of his fingers in his mouth and whistled rather loudly silencing the angry shouts. Dumbledore gratefully smiled at him and then turned back to the podium.

"It is getting late, I hope that you all have a good night's rest as in the morning we start our classes of the year. Like always, Professor McGonagall will be handing out schedules for the lessons. Until then, may you all have a wonderful evening," he said rather cheerfully. A few groans escaped the student body as the scraping of benches and shuffling of feet accompanied them out of the Hall and up to their dorms. Some of the faculty sat around and talked for a little bit. To say the least, Edward was actually a little disappointed that they weren't having the Quidditch cup that year, even though he hated all aspects of flying. However, the tournament seemed like an interesting event to watch. All of the teachers were buzzing about it here and there, all excited for the game like it was some festive holiday. Edward didn't know quite all aspects of it, but the explanation that Dumbledore gave them all was enough. Three wizards, three trials, one cup. As the faculty talked a bit more on the subject of the tournament as well as Moody's charge that he had earlier that day, Poppy dragged Edward rather reluctantly off to the hospital wing. Severus chuckled a bit as he watched Edward struggle to try and free himself from the woman's grip. The nurse was in for a big surprise.


	7. The Teachers

**Ugg, okay kind of short, but I hope you like it anyway. The next chapter (I don't know if it will be longer probably will) is going to be more exciting and awesome and stuff. I hope you like this chapter. Thank you for all of the reviews you guys (and girls) have been giving! I hope that you enjoy this as well!**

CHAPTER 7

The Teachers

Madam Promfery made Edward stay the night in the Hospital ward. She was not pleased at all with the nasty stab wound in his gut. Though there physically wasn't anything wrong with it anymore, Edward could tell that the nurse both cared for him and wanted to punish him for getting hurt in the first place. She gave him a few balms that would make the pink of the scar go away faster though all it needed was time. In the morning, Poppy let him leave with minimal scolding. Though the nurse gave him some clothes to sleep in for the night, he was forced to wear his uniform once again since he didn't have enough time to go back to his chambers to change. This was yet another punishment the nurse had for him.

Down in the Great Hall several of the students were eating breakfast and comparing schedules. Minerva handed him his just as he sat down to eat. It looked like he had the first day with a couple of First year classes as well as the Sixth years, who were now incorporated into the Alchemy program but only on a grade 2 level. It seemed like a great way to start the year except for the fact that it seemed like all of the double classes were Gryffindor and Slytherin. Most of the time they behaved but other times it was questionable. As Edward at his bowl of oatmeal, Aurora the Astronomy teacher came over to them to study schedules. When she realized that half of Edward's blocks were free, she handed him several books to take up to Trelawney. He always got stuck with other people's errands. As he set the books down beside him he could feel the burning stare of Irma Pince. The librarian still didn't trust him with paper let alone with books. The way he always left the library the previous year after hours of studying left them off on bad terms. She hated to even see him touch a book because his organizational skills were off the charts.

After a filling breakfast, Edward made his way to his class room up in the Dark Arts tower. It was still exactly how he left it. The moving pictures of Resembool and his coworkers still hung on the walls. Alphonse was sitting in his picture frame looking quite bored. When he walked into the room it all of the people in the portraits perked up and greeted him excitedly. Edward waved to them. Dumbledore really was expecting him to come back that year. He walked over to his desk and opened up the bottom drawer. It was filled to the brim with new boxes of chalk, paper, and a copy of the new set of text books that Dumbledore had ordered for them. They were by a new author, some man named Dr. Licht instead of Nicholas Flamel. Edward skimmed through the books and found that no unnecessary information was covered within the broad picture of the pages. He would have to look farther into incase there was any more hidden information like the text books did last year. He almost handed out the key to human transmutation since Flamel thought it was a good idea to hide his notes to the philosopher's stone with in the pages of a year one alchemy book. Edward set the books down on his desk and started to write out the review lesson plan for his sixth year students on the board. He was definitely not giving them an easy start of the year.

…..

After his sixth years took their review test and ultimately failed with the exception of Fred and George who were no doubted practicing alchemy over the long summer breaks, Edward picked up the books to take to Trelawney. They looked like astrology books and astral scrolls. He couldn't believe that the wizards turned something as pure as space into a way of falsely predicting someone's future. Edward just stepped out of his door when something came out of nowhere and swatted his head.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Alastor scolded him. Edward felt a spark light up in his head as the pain from the staff throbbed in his head. He silently cursed the mad teacher as the man laughed at him and hobbled away.

"GOD DAMN IT ALASTOR!" Edward shouted as the man turned the corner of the hallway. For the first day of the year, the crazy old bat wasn't giving him any leeway. He seemed back to his normal self, compared to the grumpy and scary man that entered the Hall the prior evening, but if this was how the man woke up his neighbors Edward was not looking forward to the rest of the year. The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was just a little ways down the hall from his, being classroom 3C and his 3D so it was undoubtedly not going to be the last he saw of that man.

Gripping his aching head, Edward stormed his way towards the North Tower. Sir Cadogan, a painting of a knight, who was one of the worst sentries of all times as they figured out the year before, smiled and waved at him happily. The night playfully chased him through the hallway on his rather fat and stumpy white horse. He ran through the other paintings disturbing wizards playing chess games and sleeping elders. The knight finally stopped his chase after Edward made it to the North Tower unharmed but a little annoyed from Cadogan's banter. As he approached the trap door, a silvery ladder was dropped down for him to ascend. He just knew that Trelawney would find a way to claim that she saw him coming and that was the reason for the ladder to be dropped. Climbing the ladder was a little difficult while carrying a few books and scrolls as well as being in his rather uncomfortable uniform. He wondered how all of the other soldiers could function in it when his rather obnoxious over pants were always in the way. He just guessed that they got used to wearing it after having to be in it all day. Wasn't he glad that he had the option of wearing it then. Edward climbed up into the tower and set the books off to the side as he closed the door again. Neville was the one who dropped the ladder for him and was standing there helping him put the trapped door back into place.

"Umm… Professor…. Did… did your brother….. um….., is he?" Neville stammered a bit. Edward smiled a the shy nervous kid a bit.

"Neville, Alphonse liked the present you gave him. He might be coming back up here if he has the time. You can see him again then," Edward smiled at him. The boy looked relieved. Neville and Alphonse really became close after his short stay the other year. Neville really liked Alphonse and stood up for him a lot, the same for Alphonse to Neville. Edward patted the kid on the back and led him back into the strange tower. Trelawney was happily teaching the Griffindor fourth years about the art of astrology. She was constantly hovering over Harry's table saying strange stuff about the planets that the boy obviously didn't care about.

"Boy, you were born under Saturn am I correct?" she asked the poor kid completely ignoring that Edward was ever there. Harry looked utterly confused. "It is all here, your mysterious demeanor, your mean stature, your tragic loss in early life. You must have been born in midwinter!" The kid slowly shook his head as Ron tried to hold back a howling laugh.

"No, I was born in July," Harry said stating the complete opposite season. Trelawney felt completely down hearted.

"I could swear that someone was born under Saturn!" she said closing her eyes to concentrate. Edward walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around rather surprised. "My, dear boy, you don't have to be so quiet!" she cried her misty and magical voice illuminating with drama. Edward held up the pile of books to her.

"Aurora wanted me to drop these off for you," he stated. She motioned for him to place them over on the desk behind her. He set them down carefully between two teacups and a gazing crystal. Edward nearly fell over in shock when he turned around to see the Divinations teacher's face studying him not a foot away. "Umm…. Is everything okay?" he asked her trying to find a route of escape, but he was pinned between her large bug like eyes and the desk behind him. She gazed at him curiously for a few more moments.

"You haven't happened to be born in midwinter have you?" she asked him rather curiously. Several other pairs of eyes turned to him as the students were now curious for the answer. Edward edged slightly across the desk and away from the teacher.

"February," he said a bit questionably. Trelawney's expression finally lifted up as if he answered all of the world's problems. She smiled back at him kindly.

"I knew it!" she said happily. Edward rolled his eyes a bit as the woman turned her back to him. She only knew it was him after she asked half of the class. He let out a sigh and gave a short wave to the class before he started to head out of the classroom. He didn't get far however before Trelawney stopped him again. "Oh wait, Edward. I nearly forgot to tell you! Keep Moody's advice in mind. It will prove rather helpful." Edward stared at her a bit awkwardly for a moment and nodded his head slowly.

"Will do," he muttered. He turned around and rather quickly escaped down the trap door.

…

Edward dodged down the Dark Arts tower carefully avoiding Moody's classroom by taking the route through the trophy room to get to the Great Hall for lunch. He really didn't want to get hit upside the head again before he got anything to eat. The smell of delicious food wafted up his nose before he even turned the corner. Lunch was calling him he just knew it. As Edward bolted around the corner, his foot caught on something and he tumbled forward to the ground. His automail hit the stone with a clatter sending a rather loud and obnoxious noise through the hall. He looked up to see the opened doors of the Great Hall beaconing him forward, but a rather harsh scuffling from behind him drew him back to reality. Edward let out a low growl as he turned around to see Ron and Draco duking it out on the floor, wands forgotten. Harry, Hermione, Vincent, and Gregory were all standing around watching the scene a bit frightened but all wanting their friend to win. They didn't even pay attention to Edward who tripped over them just a few moments ago. The alchemist stormed over to where the two opposing students were on the floor and ripped them apart by the collar of their coats. Ron was flung over to the side where Harry and Hermione caught him, while Draco was tossed over to his friends who stumbled to catch him.

"What's wrong with you two?" Edward scolded them as he gave Ron a warning glare. The kid was still attempting to grip his hands around the pale Slytherin's throat. Both of them were covered in rather nasty bruises. Ron had one big one around his eye while Draco's mouth looked rather puffy and red. Hermione pointed to a newspaper that was thrown rather carelessly to the ground and Edward picked it up examining it. It was the article about Arthur Weasley at the Quidditch Cup, however, this was an exclusive extra by Rita Skeeter. 'The Ministry Fraud Part Two' was written underneath the title in gaudy letters and an obnoxious picture of the mob was shown about the front page Edward could actually see the floating muggles in the background. He shivered a bit remembering the feeling of being levitated helplessly. What the sad part was that Rita didn't even spell Arthur's name right. Mr. Weasley was definitely not an Arnold. Another picture of the Burrow was shown in the corner. How the woman got that was in question but it showed Arthur and Molly smiling outside of their house as if they just got it. They looked several years younger. Ron was still fighting the grip of Hermione who was gradually slipping up.

"He called my Dad worthless!" Ron shouted lunging forward again. Luckily Hermione was still there.

"Yeah? Well I guess I didn't tell you about your mother then! That fat prune!" Draco taunted him, Crabbe and Goyle now attempting to restrain the boy in the sight of the teacher. Harry stepped forward to take a jab at him defending his red haired friend.

"You take a look at your own! She doesn't go anywhere without looking like there was Dung up her…."

"SHUT UP!" Edward scolded. He rolled the paper and smacked both Weasley and Malfoy upside the heads. "Say one more thing, _one more thing_ about each other's parents that isn't a complement and I will have to teach both of you a lesson about manners! Insult each other, but don't insult someone who isn't there to defend themselves! You two hear me?" he shouted at them. Seeing the boys back down a little bit Hermione slowly let go of Ron, and Vincent the same with Draco. They didn't dare take their eyes off of each other as they glared with fiery hate. Edward glanced between the both of them cautiously. Hermione tugged on Ron's shirt pleading for them to go, but he looked rather reluctant to stand down from the fight. Edward nearly booted them down the corridor towards the Great Hall to finish breaking the fight up. Ron turned around and muttered something nasty underneath his breath. Edward couldn't hear it but Draco must have heard it. As the Gryffindors' backs were turned, Draco scavenged out his wand and a pointed it at them furiously. Edward rushed forward and pushed the thing out of the way before the spell could get proper aim. A white hot bolt shot out of the tip with a bang grazing Harry in the cheek. As that happened, Edward heard two consecutive shots fire from to his left. Something hit both him and Draco in the side and they both tumbled to the ground in a blur.

"I don't like people who attack others when their backs are turned!" the gruff voice of Moody came. The wizard stormed over to where they were at and picked up a random white weasel that was panicking on the floor. Moody tossed the thing in the air and levitated it with his wand. "That is a stinking, rotten, cowardly thing to do!" The ferret bounced around through the air squirming rather uncontrollably.

"Professor Moody, what on earth are you doing?" Minerva called to him as she approached the wild and ultimately crazy scene. A brief crazed smile came upon the man's face as he lifted the creature into the air again.

"Teaching, Minerva. I am teaching very valuable lessons!" he smirked. The woman's face turned ghostly white.

"Alastor…. Is that… is that a student?" she cried in terror. The wizard nodded quite giddily as the ferret started doing cartwheels. "No! No! No! Turn him back right now! We never use transfiguration as a punishment! Dumbledore should have told you that! Moody!" she demanded. With a flick of her wand Draco crashed to the ground where the weasel once was floating. The kid was absolutely pale with fright as he scurried up off the floor in full embarrassment. Moody caught the kid by the collar of the robes as he tried to scurry off.

"Well, what do you think that I should do with him?" the man asked giving an extra tug on the boy's robes.

"GIVE HIM DETENTION! We give students detention by the head of house! Not transfigure them!" she cried. Alastor smiled at her and with a wink started to drag the kid down the hall towards the dungeons. The transfiguration's teacher ran after him. "Where do you think you're going?" she shouted. Hermione walked over to where Harry was and checked him. He had a little cut where the spell grazed him but nothing more. Ron however was preoccupied with something on the floor.

"Ron, what are you looking at?" Hermione asked him after Harry assured her that he was okay. Ron wheezed a bit as if he was trying to stifle a laugh or a panicked yelp.

"Guys…. I think Edward's not doing too well," he mumbled.

"What on Earth do you mean?" Harry asked as he walked over to where the kid was crouched on the floor. They were shocked to see that Ron was holding a rather insignificant blond looking kitten. The small animal was clawing rather furiously at the boy trying to get away and its eyes were huge with fear. The only way that anyone could ever recognize that it was ever once a human being was the fact that its front and back paws were made out of metal. Hermione let out a little gasp. Ron dropped the cat…. Edward to the ground after he clawed him a bit. The feline was pissed.

"What do we do?" she whispered harshly to them as she attempted to pick up Edward who was having trouble walking on all fours. He collapsed to the ground and she scooped the fighting cat up with her hands. Harry started to snicker a bit as Edward tried to escape the grip of Hermione.

"We take pictures that's what!" Ron said. Hermione and the cat shot him a glare. A small group of first years came up to them as they were walking to the Great Hall. They all cried at the adorable kitten and some attempted to pet him. Edward fought back but in the end he got his hears tussled by a million first years. They of course didn't know that it was the teacher since they didn't know that he had automail. Edward fought and wiggled out of Hermione's grip and fell to the floor again. Unfortunately the saying cats always land on their feet didn't apply to him. The small cat collapsed to the floor and tried to get up and walk around, but it looked like he was always slipping on ice. Hermione turned to Harry and Ron who were laughing their heads off at Edward's transformation.

"I am going to go get the Professor, you two watch after him!" she commanded them as she sped off towards the dungeons were they last saw the two wizards disappear off too. Colin Creevey walked by and Harry and Ron smiled at each other rather devilishly.

…..

Edward sat on the Transfiguration teacher's desk glaring at the Gryffindors who were sitting in the desks across from him. Madam Promfery was there along with Draco who was also getting checked out for any lasting effects of the transfigurations. The only effect Edward could see was the forever hatred for that type of magic. Harry and Ron were smiling at each other as they tried to permanently print the images of him and Draco as animals into their minds. While Hermione was off scouring the dungeons for the lost Transfigurations teacher, Harry and Ron borrowed Creevey's camera for the afternoon. Being absolutely fascinated by Harry's awesomeness, Colin agreed. The two Gryffindors filled the camera with several moving pictures of Edward the stumbling cat. The alchemist crossed his arms and glowered at the two while Moody, Severus, and Minerva were in the corner of the office talking about punishments for the group of rowdy teens. After one more checkup, the nurse left not without giving the alchemist a stern scowl. It wasn't even his fault he got turned into a feline!

"Alright, alright the lot of them will get detention for the rest of the week," Severus muttered as he wrote Draco's name down on the famous pink slip of detention paper. McGonagall did the same to Ron's name. It was after all, he who tempted Malfoy to shoot the spell. Severus only thought it to be fair. Moody however was grumbling to himself in the corner after the stern lecture the teachers gave him about Transfigurations. The students were very angry that they had to get punished for their stupid actions, but Edward was even more pissed that they had to serve detention with him. Draco and Ron started to complain a bit, but Edward was one of the loudest.

"How come I have to supervise this?" Edward pouted. "I got hit too! I shouldn't have to look after them!"

"Edward, don't forget, you were the one who said that you were willing to teach them a lesson on manners. I think that this is the perfect opportunity for you," Alastor gruffly said. Edward shot a glare at him.

"Well, it was you who transmuted us into animals!" Edward shouted at him. "I don't know how that is physically possible, but let me warn you, if news of this ever gets out I will permanently take that wand of yours and shove it up your-"

"Edward! Calm down!" Minerva scolded him. Edward turned his burning glare from the smirking Alastor to the four students that were with them. Their fearful eyes were filled with the same threat. The transfigurations teacher let out a huff and turned to Moody. "Alastor, I don't know what type of game you are playing, but I never want to see you interfere with any problems with transfigurations ever again. Edward was on the right track splitting them up like he did. I am sure that he had it handled by the time you came barging in!"

"Handled?" the man raged. "That half pint boy almost got his head blown off. He had not one ounce of magic in him!" Minerva looked almost taken aback by the man's change in demeanor. Edward was too. Alastor was supposed to be….. well, fair? Definitely an old and senile man, but some logicical ethics were in him.

"I didn't get my head blown off. I got turned into a goddamn cat!" Edward raged bolting up from his seat on the table. Severus, not wanting to be a part of the conversation any longer, hustled the students out of the room. They looked rather confused and frightened from Edward's outburst but the door quickly closed behind them shutting the storm inside. "I had everything handled before you shot us!"

"Harry almost got shot up! If you think keeping your students full of holes is under control, then by all means be my guest," Moody taunted him. Edward stared the man down with a fiery breath so hot it could have melted steel.

"He wasn't hurt!... Badly. I blocked anything bad from happening! I might not have magic, but I still know how to do things!" Edward yelled at him. Moody smiled rather cleverly at him.

"Boy, that uniform you wear isn't your skill level. I would like to see you try to fight. From what I have seen from you, you can barely take care of yourself. The Quidditch Cup, that hole in your gut, don't even make me mention your missing limbs. You can't save a fly," he smiled cruelly. Edward's eyes widened with rage and he nearly tackled the man to the ground. He gripped Alastor by the collar of the shirt and growled at him.

"Stop it!" Minerva shouted at them. She flicked her wand at them and Edward flew off of Alastor and back into a chair beside her. Moody flew into another one across from him. The transfigurations teacher glowered at both of them. "You two are behaving even worse than the students! I don't know what has gotten into you Moody, but we don't go insulting people, or their nationality like that! I thought better of you." The guilty wizard turned his head like a child away from her not wanting to look in the angered woman's eyes. McGonagall turned to Edward who sat smirking at the lectured Defense teacher in triumph.

"What do you think you are looking at, Elric? You aren't in the right either. You shouldn't manage arguments with force like that! Act civilized towards your co workers!" Edward turned his head away rather pitifully just like Moody did. There was a long and hate filled silence in the room until McGonagall let out a tiny sigh. She walked over to her desk and took out two more pink slips. "Moody, if you are so worried about Elric's health, why don't you teach him a thing or two about magic. You are the defense teacher after all, let him sit in one of your lessons. Edward, I will be dealing a separate punishment for you in a few days. Don't forget about it," she warned. The two pink slips were handed to them and they took them rather childishly. Edward stuffed his inside of his pant pocket without looking at it. Moody glared at his and then to the alchemist, who turned his nose up at him. "Shake hands," the elderly woman commanded them. They eyed each other a bit, taking in all of their anger and absorbing it into some sort of mutual agreement with their arms. Slowly and steadily, they both shook hands and stormed out of the classroom. The transfigurations teacher immediately shut the door behind them cleansing her work area of the argument.

….

Edward was insulted and in a very bad mood, but luckily the rest of the day went pretty smoothly. The first years took to their first lesson of alchemy rather well. It seemed that he only had to explain that alchemy had not magical properties to it what so ever three times before they got it. Dennis Creevey seemed rather enthusiastic about the class. He was asking questions and taking notes like a model student. If only it weren't for his idolizing smile that he wore on his face all the time, Edward would have definitely delegated him best of the class.

Hagrid recently asked Edward for help on handling the Blast-Ended Skewts that he had boxed up for his classes. They were little soft fleshy looking crab creatures without a shell to them, almost harmless looking. The only thing that would ever make someone run away screaming from them was the fact that they had stingers on one side and fire cannons on the other. Whenever Edward tried to feed or herd one of the rampant animals, its end would explode and it would be sent back a few yards leaving the alchemist a bit scorched and in an even worse mood than he started off with. Edward was a bit happy that Hagrid didn't hear about the incident with the transfiguration spells. The stories were flying around rapidly through the faculty and Severus took to teasing him a bit at dinner. That was the last thing he needed after learning he would have to spend an entire class period with Moody. Hagrid was the one teacher he could talk to that wouldn't call him hair ball or make terrible cat jokes. Luckily the three Gryffindors knew better than to go spreading the news about his transformation around in the student body, but the story of the bouncing ferret was easily shared amongst the red cloaked students. He was glad not to be Draco for the rest of the week, or the rest of his life. Edward was sure that Ron would use that gun to its full power.

After the short detention with Weasley and Draco, where Edward had them polish the armoury to perfection, he headed off to his chambers. Dumbledore had told him that they were fully fixed and replenished since the flood that happened last year. He also said that the Bloody Baron was set on patrol around the corridor at least once a week in order to chase Peeves away. He was quite relieved. Edward found that his portrait painting of Mustang, his subordinates, Al, and Winry, were all happy to see him that evening. Alphonse was holding a painted cat from one of the paintings on the fifth floor in his hands, but Edward really didn't want to fight with him right then and there, especially about those creatures. He simply recited the password and entered his chambers. Just like the headmaster said, his chambers were fixed and refurnished to an exact copy to where they once before. His desk, four poster bed, and bathroom were perfectly dry and fresh. He noticed that on his desk there was a strange black device that he thought he would never see at the wizard school. It was a rotary dial telephone. He walked over to it and picked it off of the hook. It was live. There was a tiny note next to it written in lovey green ink from Albus.

_Dear Edward,_

_I knew that you needed a better way of communicating back home since the unfortunate events that happened last year, so I picked you up one of these. I put an enchantment on it so it would work in the grounds and without ekeletricity. The number is written on the bottom in case you want to give it to your Commander. Use it wisely._

_-Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

Edward smiled and placed the note down. Wizards finally got something right.


	8. Alchemy Training

**Okay, lengthy no, but got a stopping point. (sorry for the hanger). I wish I could have posted it sooner, but I was booked the entire weekend. Next chapter maybe this weekend if everything goes well. Anyways, this is my next chapter, I hope you like it. Thankyou all for the awesome reviews! Fun fact at the bottom that is in no real way related to this chapter.**

CHAPTER 8

Alchemy Training

It was early morning when Edward woke up with a start, his shirt soaked with cold sweat. There it was again, his nightmare. His raspy breaths were coming out rather harsh and forced as he sat on his bed trying to calm himself down. He had that dream a couple times ago in the prior year, but this time it was haunting, this time it was coming in almost in full focus. All he could see was death. Alphonse's lifeless and motionless armour tossed to the dirty ground in shreds as if something disintegrated parts of his metal body, Mustang was down on the ground, bloody, hurt, and for some reason blinded in the dark. Even Van was stabbed and bleeding rather furiously to the dark floor of some blackened room. Edward slowly took a shaky breath in and out. It wasn't real, he knew that already. Mustang had his vision, his father though a bastard wasn't stupid, and Alphonse's blood seal wasn't even broken in his dream. They could be okay. They are okay. He clutched his knees to his chest as his heart rate started to lower itself and stared up at the ceiling. Poppy, like last year, had given him some Dream Draughts to drown out the horrors of his dreams. Ever since the boggart got lose in the early October, he had been willingly taking them by Severus's and her advice. This year was no exception. She did give him some bottles of the potions to keep in his cabinets and he did take one last night. It just didn't work. His body shuddered one more time as he slowly straightened up pushing any terrible thought out of his conscious mind and back into the subconscious where it belonged.

It was nearly time for classes, he completely slept through breakfast. Edward took a shower and got ready for the day. It was a relief that he was able to get back into his normal attire after having to wear his uniform not just one day, but two. He slipped his red coat over his shoulders and slipped out of his chambers where the people in his Portrait were still sleeping rather comfortably. He stumbled down the corridors and across the suspension bridge to the Defense tower. The place was empty besides for a few stray students who were lollygagging to their next class. His first period was empty so no students were waiting to get into his locked classroom, several however were standing outside of 3C. Harry and Hermione waved to him and he tiredly nodded to them as he continued down the way. Around the corner of the corridor, he stopped at his door and stumbled with the key. Wizards could just open and lock doors with a wave of their wands, but Dumbledore issued him a huge padlock key for his door. Along with locking it, Edward always alchemized his door shut so that any wayward student would happen to find their way in with a flip of their wands, but he used the key just in case. As he found out through one of his many searches in the library, wizards also know ways to lock muggles out even if they had a key or a picking kit. Severus often used this on the dungeon basement doors so that Edward couldn't take any extra oil from the stores. He never actually attempted to do so, well steal anyway, but he was glad to see that the potion's master fully trusted him. As he slid the key into the latch a hefty hand landed on his shoulder making him drop the thing with a clatter.

"Leave me alone," Edward growled as he tiredly bent down to pick up the large key with a huff.

"It has been three days lad," Moody snapped to him in a rather pleasant morning mood. "When are you going to take that class with me?" Edward clicked the key into the door and clicked it. He turned around and glared at the unsymmetrical man with weary baggy eyes.

"I will go when I feel like it. Right now I am not in the mood," he retorted. The electric blue eye was gazing at him up and down. The man's rather crude face turned a little softer as he studied Edward. Alastor let out a little huff of air.

"Didn't get much sleep did yah? You know lad, the sooner you get this done, the sooner you don't have to worry about it," he bribed him. Edward rolled his eyes and turned back towards his classroom.

"The sooner I get it done, the less time I can torture you with the fact that you still don't know when you are going to teach me. I could wait as long as I want," Edward taunted him. Just as he was going to destruct the door's hinges from the stone wall where he glued them last night, two huge and rather strong arms hooked him underneath the shoulders and started to drag him down the hallway. "Let me go you large ape!" Edward snarled at him, but Alastor kept a hold of him as he made his way towards classroom 3C. The man whipped out his wand and unlocked his door with a swish. The students who were waiting outside of the classroom looked a little confused that the man was holding Elric prisoner.

"Come on kids, we got a visitor today," Alastor chuckled to them as he tossed Edward into the room. He thankfully landed in a chair while the other rather baffled students started to make their way in. Neville and Ron sat down beside him as Moody took the front of the room. Edward attempted to get up and walk out but even as he thought about it, the door magically swung shut. The teacher was writing something on the board with his back turned to them, but Edward could still feel the eerie gaze of the blue eye resting on him. He stood up and tried the door, but it wouldn't budge. Moody let out a little chuckle as he wrote things on the board. "You are going to sit through my class whether you like it or not Elric. It is my punishment as well as yours, so you might as well get on with it."

"I don't see how you teaching me is a punishment for you as equally as it is for me," Edward growled as he inspected the wall. He clapped his hands together and pressed them against the stone to deteriorate the wall. Just as the electric sparks came up out of his transmutation, Moody spun around and launched a small orb from his desk at his face. Edward took his hands away from the wall and caught it just as it was about to hit him. It was fairly heavy and it seemed to be used as a rather fancy paperweight. A little bit angered, Edward launched the thing back at him but the man simply waved his wand and it floated back down on his desk unharmed.

"See? I have to deal with a feisty and insubordinate teenager. I think that is punishment for anything," Moody retorted. Edward glared at the man while a few snickers from the class came up. The man motioned a little for Edward to take his seat. He really wanted to get out of there, but he eventually gave in. The door was locked and if he tried to make the hole in the wall again, the man would just chuck something at him again. Edward cursed a bit to himself under his breath as he took his seat between Neville and Ron. Alastor turned to the class and tapped the chalkboard which read, Unforgivable Curses.

"So, who of you know what the unforgivable curses are?" the man's gruff and rather distasteful voice rang out. A few of the students eyed each other nervously as they shifted around in their seats obviously knowing the answer but too afraid to say it. But defying gravity was Hermione's hand sticking straight up in the air like it normally was in every class she was in. Edward smiled a bit. Alastor pointed to her and she basically read out the answer in perfect textbook format.

"Sir, they are a series of curses that are so horrible and dark that they are banned to all wizards and witches in the magical world for obvious reasons."

"Very good Granger. Basically, to put it simply, they are unforgiveable and most strictly punished by law. I am here to teach you to defend yourself against these. I have one year to teach you what I know in order to protect yourselves from the Dark Arts. To start off does anyone know one of these curses?" Edward was a little surprised to see that Ron was the brave soul who raised his hand. He never raised his hand for anything really, but he was toughing it today. Moody smiled and pointed to him.

"I-I think one is called the Imperius Curse," he mumbled. Alastor's face lit up with excitement as he reached behind him for something.

"Yes! Yes!" he said as he turned around holding a jar with what seemed to be spiders. "The  
Ministry had trouble with that one a while ago. They couldn't tell who was under the spell or not. It had everyone afraid and confused, yes." He reached into the jar and pulled out a large spider. He casted a spell upon it to make it grow to the size of a softball. Edward noticed that Ron blanched out a bit. The kid was extremely afraid of arachnids of any sort. The man set it down on the table where it just stood there a little dazed. He looked up and stared at the class with his beady eye.

"Imperio," he said softly as he pointed his wand at the large spider. As if it were a puppet, the spider hopped up on its hind legs and started to tap dance across the table. The class laughed a bit as it started to do a jig and jump up and down in a comical sort of way, but Edward was truly frightened. He shifted backwards a bit in his seat a bit as he watched the spider obey the very thought of the man. Moody looked up and snapped at the class.

"This is funny isn't it? Seeing an arachnid tap dance? Completely against its own will, obeying every little command with exact accuracy. How do you think it would be funny if I just made it….. jump out the window? Drown itself in some water? Or even murder its best friend?" The entirety of the class fell silence as Alastor let the spider go from the curse and placed it back into the jar. He turned around to the class and looked at them with the most intense stare he had ever seen.

"The reason why this is so tricky to sort out is because no one can tell who is acting upon their own free will, and who is being forced. But, the imperius Curse can be fought. One must obtain and keep their will to fight, and one must always have CONSTANT VIGILANCE! It is better to avoid being hit rather than having to fight it off yourself!" His eye wandered on Edward for a moment or two but then he returned to his class. "Alright, another one!" Hermione of course raised her hand in the air to answer, but Neville also shyly raised his. Edward was a bit proud of him for actually being brave enough to try and answer, he knew Alphonse would be too. The electric blue eye turned to the timid boy as Moody smiled.

"Th-the Cruciatus Curse," Neville whimpered a bit. Moody smiled at him rather fondly.

"Longbottom right?" he asked gently. The boy nodded to him. Alastor reached into another jar and pulled out another spider and enlarged it even bigger than the last one. Ron shifted around rather nervously in his seat and took a rather firm grasp on Edward's coat sleeve. Neville took his other sleeve rather frightened too, but Edward knew that the boy wasn't afraid of spiders. Moody pointed his wand at the creature.

"Crucio!" In an instant the spider began to twitch and spaz, the legs curling and tightening as if in intense pain. A high pitch squeal came out of the poor creature as the power grew. It started to shake and twitch so violently that it almost fell off of the table. Neville was squirming in his seat and gripping Edward's coat so hard that he nearly ripped it. His face was contorted into his own pained look which told Edward that he was truly afraid of what was happening. The alchemist wrapped his arm wound the boy's shoulders and covered his eyes so that he wouldn't have to see. Alastor however, was not removing the wand. Hermione eventually had to scold and scream at him to stop it. The spider was left whimpering and twitching on the desk where it sat. Alastor nodded softly at the pale faces of the class and tossed the spider back into the jar.

"Torture has many forms, and the cruciatus curse is the worst of the worst. It was once very popular too," Moody said looking directly and Edward and Neville. The alchemist was still trying to calm the boy down a bit from the spell. He was off of his nerves as well. Torture was one of humanity's cruelest inventions and ideas. "Alright, now for the last one." Moody commanded the class, but no one was willing to say anything after the last one was displayed out in front of them. Their lips were tight as nails and Edward didn't blame them. Moody however, was looking at all of them expectantly and it was up to Hermione to save the day.

"Avada Kedavra," she whispered almost inaudible to human ears. Edward could almost sense the spiders in the jars shaking at the very words. Moody solemnly nodded his head and took out the last spider.

"Yes the killing curse," he muttered. He pointed his wand at the spider and Edward felts a growing pit in his gut. The man recited the words and a huge splash of green light bathed the spider. There was no noise, not second motion, no attempt to run. The spider simply fell over stiff and dead, its legs curled inwards towards its chest; a cadaver. Neville was absolutely frozen and so was the rest of the class. There was no blood, no gaping wound, the thing was simply dead in a beautifully horrid way. Moody picked up the dead thing and walked over to where Edward was sitting at his desk and tossed it down on the wood in front of him. Ron fell out of his chair trying to get away from the giant spider. Dead or alive, he didn't like them. Alastor ignored the boy's whines and stared straight at Edward.

"There is no counter curse, no second chances. If you get hit with this, you are down for good. Do you understand me?" he said to him. "I am showing you these curses today so that you know what they are, and how powerfully vicious magic can be. Though there are no counter curses, I am showing them to you because you got to know what you are up against in this world." Moody turned and hobbled over to his desk again. "The only weapon against these is constant, never ceasing vigilance. If you are always on high alert, if you always know what is coming, you know when to duck and when to dodge. You are as well off as a muggle in this case." Edward turned red with anger as some eyes turned towards him, the blue one included. Moody was right in taking him the opportunity in showing him these. He knew there were dark spells, but now…. He really knew. The man might have been an insulting, overconfident, crazy, magic man but he was actually just trying to help everyone protect themselves and each other. Moody wanted to prepare Edward. For what? He didn't quite know, but he nodded to Alastor in acknowledgement who was still training him with the magical eyeball.

The bell rang and Neville was dazed and confused a bit as he grabbed his books to leave. He was in utter shock. Edward helped his with his things, but Moody took the kid aside to talk to him. It was an innocent gesture so Edward let the kid go with the other teacher.

…

Edward stood in class with his sixth years as they were reviewing the periodic table. The summer months had driven out most memory of the students entire schooling the previous year. They were all struggling to figure out whether the table went in alphabetical order or by atomic number. He walked around the room to see how everyone was doing on their tables just to find one person attempt to spell his name out with the letters. Fred and George who already had it down pact were sitting at their own table whispering something low to each other. They were holding what looked like to be puff pastries and were pointing to them and arguing. The pastries were smashed with creamy filling oozing over the edges and burnt crumbs stuck to the pans.

"I don't care that you are trying to learn how to bake," Edward said looking at the terribly made creations, "but please don't do it in my room." They both stuffed the nasty things back into their backpacks. He could only imagine what would happen to them then. As he started to help a few kids remember the atomic numbers and masses, the telephone rang on his desk. Several kids jumped in the air and others started to pack up thinking that it was the bell. Edward waved them down as he marched over to his desk and pried the thing off of the receiver.

"Hello?" he answered in Amestrian. He had Dumbledore send the number out to three people, and three people alone. Winry, Rose who was in communication with the events down in Liore, and Havoc who though still in the hospital, was able to talk to the Colonel and was also out of the suspicion of the government with his paralysis.

"EDWARD!" Winry's loud voice rang out of the machine. Edward had to hold the phone a few feet away to stop his eardrums from exploding. "You have some explaining to do! There is this guy here and-"

"Winry, a guy? What guy? Who?" he asked a little panicked. What if the military tried to use her as a hostage again? Having a random man in her house was definitely not a good thing.

"Ling! Well, I think its Ling! He doesn't say he's Ling. Edward what have you been doing? Who is this?" Something crashed in the background and Winry started to scold whoever caused the noise. The phone was set down for a little bit and Edward heard the pained voice of Ling come over towards it. The girl must have smacked him over the head with a wrench for something stupid he did. The phone was picked up again as the mechanic let out a tired huff of air. "Alright, he says he is Ling now, but… Hey-" she cried as the phone was ripped out of her hands.

"HIYAAA ED!" Ling's voice shouted over the phone. Edward groaned a bit in his mind at his old 'friend's' annoying voice, but he didn't mind that much. It has been a while since he heard it ever since Greed took over his body.

"Ling what do you want?" Edward mumbled as he kept an eye on his class. They all seemed to be perking up to listen to his conversation. He glared at them to go back to work and they did, but they were still actively listening.

"Ed, I don't think that I have a lot of time here, but I need to tell you a few things," Ling said in a tone that was so serious it was almost out of character for the jolly prince. Edward's ears perked up as he pressed the phone a little closer to his ears and sat down in his desk chair.

"What is it?"

"The portal. That guy named Father is going to open the Portal on the Day of Reckoning."

"What about the portal Ling?" Edward begged him but he heard the man give out a panged grunt. "Are you alright?"

"Ed, I think you might be able to get Al's body back then. I don't know, just a hunch," Ling said very quickly. The Prince let out another groan and he heard Winry gasp a little bit as the phone crackled.

"Ling, Ling!" Edward shouted into the mouth piece.

"Stop shouting! I am not dead!" Ling retorted. "Greed left the homunculi; he split from the rest of the group. He attacked Wrath after regaining some of his previous memories."

"But-"

"Edward, you gave Lanfan my message right?" he asked him.

"Yeah, she's safe but-" All of a sudden the phone on the other end of the line clattered to the floor. Some scuffing rang out over the line before Winry picked it up and shouted into it.

"EDWARD ELRIC! What the hell is going on here! Who is he?" she commanded. Edward, yet again had to take a few feet distance from the phone. He let out a groan and pinched the bridge of his nose. Winry was panicking.

"Winry, calm down. That is Greed, he is a Homunculus."

"A what!" He heard a yelp of pain from Greed as loud hammering footsteps ran away from the room. There was a click as another phone, Edward guessed from another room, was picked up off of the receiver. "Edward, tell me what is going on!" Winry's voice came out. She must have smacked Greed over the head with the wrench and ran to another room a safe distance away. She tended to over react a lot.

"I am a Hommunculus,"Greed's voice groaned out of the original receiver.

"GET OFF THE PHONE!" Winry scolded him from the other room. They started to bicker back and forth at each other for a bit. Edward had enough of it.

"SHUT UP!" he shouted. The students in his class looked up in surprise and he waved them off tell them it was alright. The voices on the other end of the phone however, were silenced. Edward gave out a sigh and turned his attention back to his friends. "Winry, Greed is a homunculus in Ling's body. He is still in there, and that is what is causing the mood swings. Ask him for all of the details. I have a class right now!"

"Wait, you have a what?" Greed chuckled a bit.

"I have a class! I teach thanks to Wrath and all of the magical wizards up here! Get over it!" Edward growled at him, but Greed was sent into a laughing shock. It took a while for the laughter to calm down but it eventually came to an end.

"Well, alchemist, I think I am going to do the same."

"What teach?" Edward and Winry both said at the same time. This caused an annoyed groan to come out of Greed.

"No, you idiots. Kid, yah heard Xing-man right? I am out of the group. I think I am just going to travel. I can't stick around in Amestris for long anyways. I am cut off," Greed replied nonchalantly like he normally did.

"You are not coming up here, that's for sure," Edward scolded the man.

"Why would you think I wanted to come up there and live with you and those bratty kids you are teaching?" Greed teased him.

"Well…. Do you want to come up here?" Edward asked him. There was a slight pause from the other line. The class shifted around a bit with the eerie silence that the teacher was giving them. Just then a small snort came from Greed.

"I will do what I want. Everything is mine remember? All options included. Don't be expecting me though," Greed said a nonchalantly hung up. Edward heard footsteps from the other end of the line where Winry was still on. The mechanic let out a little sigh of relief.

"He's definitely something," she muttered a bit.

"Winry, I want you to look after him," Edward said to her flatly.

"What!" she screamed. "I am not having a creepy, crazy man in my house!"

"Winry! At least offer him a place to stay! Remember it is also Ling too!" Edward scolded. "Greed isn't that bad either," he muttered to himself, but Winry heard him.

"Not that bad? He broke into my house and started to eat my food!"

"That was Ling."

"Edward!" she whined.

"Winry!" he shouted as he hung up on her. He was going to get an earful about that the next time he saw her, but that wasn't important now. What Ling told him was still running through his head. Greed was cut off from the other plot scheming homunculi and the day of Reckoning was going to be the day that they opened the portal probably to destroy Amestris, but also give them the possibility of getting their bodies back. Edward felt overwhelmed by the new information, but also rather frightened. This was really going to happen.

"Who was that?" George asked him. The students weren't able to understand anything with the language barrier, but he still really wished that Winry could have called during his free period or something. Edward let out a sigh and sifted his hand through his hair.

"That was my mechanic. Winry, you were away when she was here," Edward noted. "I envy you for it." A few of his students chuckled a bit at the statement. This sort of picked up the mood of the class. Edward took out a piece of chalk and started to write the periodic table on the board again since the students still weren't remembering well enough. The phone call definitely didn't help them.

"It sounded like you were in trouble or something, is something wrong?" Fred asked sincerely as the metals were being drawn. Edward shrugged a bit as the white lines swirled down around the board.

"Nothing really, just… friend issues," Edward murmured. The class fell silent for a while and he turned around to teach them the table all over again. He lectured them about the atomic masses, the order, and the numbers of all of the elements. They picked up quickly and soon they were in a full review session. They sped through the chemical bondings, the phase shifts, and the different symbols of a transmutation circle. The rebound from the summer months was quickly whipped away. There was only five minutes left of class when they finished their lesson. Edward thought it was perfect time to return their graded review tests that they took a few days ago just to see how we they remembered the materials of the prior year. He walked over to the filing cabinet and opened it to find the papers. A few students of the class started to talk a little bit while he was searching. He found the pile of papers and pulled them out. He didn't however realize how quiet the class got. When he glanced up, a shiny, silvery object was flung right towards his face.

…..

Edward ducked, it was all he really could do at that moment. The sharp object flew only centimeters above his face as some of the students screamed. Edward's right' arm shot out and grabbed onto the flying blade as it hurled overhead, and then he chucked it back at the doorway where it came from. The knife spun through the air, blade spinning over the end until it came to a sudden stop.

"You grew slow," Izumi growled at him as she twirled the caught knife between her fingers. Edward stared at her incomplete shock as did the rest of the class. The papers that he pulled out of the cabinet were scattered upon the floor in a helpless disorganizes heap. Izumi gave the students a boiling stare and she walked back over to Edward. She pointed the blade at his nose and gave him a pitiful intent look. "When you spin the blade like that, it is harder to catch, but you never know which end will hit the target. By the way you throw, I was going to get a bruise rather than a cut," she scolded him and then sheathed the knife back into her pocket.

"W-What a-are you doing here?" Edward asked very surprised by her visit. She took a glance at the class who were all shifting back a bit in their chairs as they observed the new stranger in their class. By the look on her face, Izumi didn't quite approve.

"Aren't you going to introduce me, Edward, or did my teaching really wear off in all of these years?" Izumi scoffed at him. Edward glanced around nervously as he tried to gain his failing composure.

"Class, th-this is my alchemy teacher, Mrs. Izumi Curtis," he said shakily. A few of the Slytherins stood up from their chairs to show etiquettes while the rest of the class followed suit. Izumi smirked at them.

"At least some people show manners," she shot back at Edward. He took a few steps back towards his desk. The bell rang and the students looked at each other, too afraid to move. They looked longingly towards the door, but Izumi stood casually in their way. Edward nodded towards the door with his head as indiscrete as possible. The students quickly grabbed their bags and ran out of the room. Izumi rolled their eyes at the fleeing students and turned towards hers. "They have no guts. What are you teaching them Edward?" she scolded him. The young alchemist stammered for an answer but he couldn't find any. She cut him off in order to relieve him of his embarrassment.

"Never mind," she huffed as she looked around the room. "I am going to be here for a few days to help you with classes. Some nice lady named McGonagall told me about your situation and said she wanted me to help keep you in line." Edward's eyes widened as he realized that this was the punishment that Minerva was going to give him after the events on Monday. Moody had to teach him in a class, while he had to be supervised for a week by a terrifying housewife. These punishments definitely weren't equivalent. Izumi took a trip around the room to look at the pictures. Edward took that opportunity to pick up the papers he left lying on the ground after the attack. He didn't think the students wanted them back after his teacher's introduction.

"How's Alphonse doing?" Izumi asked sincerely as she looked at the moving portrait of Alphonse's armour. It seemed to be quivering just like Edward was in the glaring gaze of their teacher. He quickly scooped up a few more papers and threw them into the pile.

"I-I don't know. We were separated at Briggs and Severus brought me up here before I had a chance to find him. Winry said that he was travelling though, with Major Miles," he informed her. He was truly afraid that something happened to his brother. He wanted to see him again, but didn't know where to start. It was scary not knowing even where he could be. He knew that his teacher was a bit afraid as well even though she didn't show it. He just knew. Edward picked up the last paper and shuffled them all together into a neat pile. As he turned to go back to his filing cabinet, his red coat was tossed over his head. He ripped it off to see Izumi nodding towards the door.

"Come on," she ordered. "If I am going to be teaching, I might as well start with you." A great immense feeing of dread filled his stomach as he slipped the fabric on and rushed after her.

….

**Fun Fact: The first form of long distance communication was the telegraph. Beforehand people used smoke signals, and then semaphores to send messages from hilltop to hilltop if not by letter or the grapevine. The telegraph was the first compact form of communication and is still used today. It was originally made for railway communication but it soon grew so popular that they were incorporated into the homes and offices as well. There were two different forms of communication through the telegraph, one was the common form of Morse code which we use today, and the other was the long and forgotten code (which I infact forget the name of). Instead of a series of dots and dashes meaning a separate letter of the alphabet, the series would mean a specific word from the dictionary. This code was cast off because of how much time it took to translate the code (they would literally have to search through an entire dictionary to figure it out).**


	9. Physical Education

**Okay, here is my next chapter! I hope you all like it! I wanted to post it yesterday but I fell asleep! Okay, well Thank you all for your reviews I am glad to hear that all of you like it so far! I know that this doesn't really relate to the story, but there is another fun fact at the bottom! Enjoy!**

CHAPTER 9

Physical Education

It was lunch of course, when Izumi lead nearly dragged the frightened Elric out of the castle. He could hear all of the commotion going on in the Great Hall. The smell of food wafted into his tired and rather hungry senses and he longed for it, but Izumi ignored him and lead him outside into the vast greenery of the castle. He was running off of minimal sleep as well as no food, but he kept his head up. Izumi would give him an earful if she knew that he wasn't taking care of himself.

Several students were outside enjoying the sun or eating lunch. Some of the teachers were there as well. McGonagall was giving a rather crude beat down on Moody who seemed to have accidentally let the Blast ended Shrewts out of their cage. Hagrid was off in the distance trying to catch them all before they set his hut on fire. Izumi took them to the small hill that lead down to the whomping willow. It was a beautiful day and it reminded Edward slightly of the days that he and Alphonse would spar together, however now he was sparring with the terrifying power or his teacher. He took in a little shaky breath as he braced himself for her. They stood a few meters apart in ready stance. Izumi, was smirking rather evilly at him. He really wished that McGonagall could have let him get an ear full from Mustang or even Armstrong instead of calling her. It felt like he was back in training during his stay with her all those years ago.

Edward charged her and threw several punches as she gracefully dodged them as if she predicted them all an hour before hand. He went to knock her legs out from underneath her and she simply stepped over his foot. It was well known by both of them that the young alchemist was never going to win, but he didn't want to give up trying.

"You are so predictable, Edward," Izumi scolded him as she grabbed a hold of his arm and hurled him hover her shoulder. "Don't you dare take it easy on me." Edward skidded to a stop and then charged her again. He threw several fake punches as well as real ones, but she always found a move to perfectly counteract his. Just as Edward went in for a round house, Izumi caught his leg and spun him around to the ground. She pinned him there by a half nelson making sure to rub his face in the dirt a few extra times. He groaned as she gave a bellowing laugh.

"I haven't done this in a long time!" she said cheerfully. Edward grumbled to himself as Izumi let him go to reset their match. They stood in their starting positions and Edward realized that a small crowd was growing. It wasn't anything unusual for the students to be curious about him fighting, especially since his assessment the other year, but he really wished that they wouldn't watch while he got his butt kicked. Moody as well as McGonagall were standing with the crowd and were eyeing their fight with completely opposite reactions. Alastor was rather thrilled and completely engaged while Minerva was absolutely terrified. She always hated it when Edward fought and to say the least, this wasn't really backing up his punishment about fighting with other teachers. As Edward was distracted by the crowd, Izumi actually took the chance to make the first strike, something she never did before during their sparrings. He caught the right hook out of the corner of his eye and ducked. He slid out of the way of his attacking teacher just in time to avoid being slammed by the backs of both fists.

"Teacher, take it easy! Don't strain yourself!" Edward pleaded her. She sent a roundhouse at him which he blocked with his arm. He knew what happened to her when she over exerted herself, blood would be pouring out of her mouth at any minute if she kept on fighting so aggressively. It didn't help him that he didn't see her take any medication beforehand either. She didn't like doctors just like he did, but she didn't ignore their warnings either. Instead of stopping however they continued, Edward in full defensive while she was on the aggressive but of course not at full force. If she was going all out, he would have been dead by now. Within five minutes, Edward was lying on his stomach again being pinned to the ground by a sandal covered foot. The crowd was clapping at the show that they got to see.

"Mrs. Curtis!" Minerva spoke out. Izumi turned to her smiling kindly while Edward looked up from where he was still pinned on the ground. "I am glad that you are teaching Mr. Elric a thing or two, but remember he still has to teach! He can't teach a class with half of his body broken!"

"Mrs. McGonagall, I promise you that he is fine. If I haven't broken my student yet, I won't anytime soon," she replied kindly but then Izumi gave a mischievous glare down towards Edward. "That is, unless I catch him doing something stupid again then I might consider going all out." Shivers went down his spine as the two black eyes bore into his very being. Teacher could scare a grizzly bear with that look. Izumi took her foot off of his back and let him get up and stretch out. His body was sore in more places than one and it wasn't helping his mood that the crowd of students was cheering as if Izumi won a major award. He grumbled to himself a bit as he straightened out his coat. What really got to him was that Izumi did not look like she was in pain at all. She could have went through the entire duel without lifting a finger and still have won, but instead she decided to fight as well. She was panting a bit but other than that she looked fine.

"Teacher, are you alright?" Edward asked her as she stroked up a talk with the other teachers.

"Edward," Izumi's stern voice came out, "Why don't you go get some lunch? I will be up in a bit." Edward swiftly nodded after catching the glimmering look in her eye and turned to head back to the castle. As he glanced back to where his teacher was talking, he saw that Moody was getting rather interested in their fighting skills. He thought he heard the words Constant Vigilance echo from the hill top.

…..

Edward sat in the Great Hall across from Severus. It was almost empty except for a few students who lingered there instead of rushing off to their other classes. He was gorging down food absolutely starved from missing breakfast especially with all that happened that day. Severus seemed to be trying to read a book of some sort but was getting rather distracted with Edward's eating. It seemed like he was trying to guess how much more the kid could eat. After a third plate of sandwiches, Severus snapped his book shut.

"Edward, could you at least try to contain your eating habits to your side of the table?" Severus growled at him rather annoyed.

"I missed breakfast, had to sit through a lecture from Wild Eye over there, and I got my butt kicked by my teacher," he stated rather flatly to the grumpy wizard. "Could you pass the water?" Severus rolled his eyes and handed him the pitcher. Edward took a long gulp from his goblet. It was completely refreshing.

"By the way, you have a little dirt on your face, I just thought you wanted to know," Severus said pointing to a little spot by his nose. Edward started to laugh nearly spitting water out his nose. He knew his face was dirty and not just one spot on his nose. Izumi made sure to stuff his face in the dirt whenever she tackled him. He was covered in it.

"Thanks Captain Obvious," he said taking his napkin to try and to wipe some of it off. Severus even managed to crack the tiniest smile. He picked up his book.

"So where is your teacher? I think I might want to tell her off for dueling you like that. I won't hear the end of it in my classes for weeks. It is silly what gets kids rallied up these days."

"Well, if you want to get killed, I wouldn't put it past you. My teacher could take down a grizzly like it was reading the afternoon paper. She is talking to some of the Hogwarts staff. Moody seemed really interested in all of it," Edward said picking up a bowl of noodles. Severus grimaced at the mention of Moody. Edward caught it as the potions master was trying to cover it up with his book. "Severus, what is it? I know he took the defense position, but I am sure you'll get it next time. The man is only staying for one year it is hardly a thing to be disgusted about." Severus's face twisted a bit in anger. The Dark Art's position was a sore spot for him, but Edward was way off on what was upsetting him.

"No, Elric," he steamed rather stiffly. "I just want to ask you a question. Do you think that it is a bit odd that the man was supposedly attacked the day he came to school and seemed perfectly fine when he got here?" Edward slurped up some noodles and studied rather confused into the man's dead serious expression.

"Well, for one, you are talking to an alchemist who got picked up right after a dangerous car chase with a gut splitting wound just to be whisked away to the magical world of London with no clue on whether everyone or anyone made it out of the mountains alright," he stated setting down his bowl. "I thought Moody's attack was a false alarm anyways. He is a little dismantled in the head you know. He nearly knocked my head off while I was walking out of my office just to scold me on CONSTANT VIGIANCE!" he mocked the man. Severus rolled his eyes and picked up his book again.

"I just don't trust him, that's all. Some potion supplies have gone missing from my private stores and I only suspect a few people, him included."

"The only thing I don't get is his eyeball. What happened to it? And why can it see through stuff?" Edward asked him.

"Magic," Severus stated plainly. Edward gave him an obvious glare.

"I just find it creepy. At the ministry he was able to see my injury as well as my prosthetics. Of course I am glad that he doesn't know where they came-" Edward took a pause. Moody wasn't at the Quidditch cup as far as he could tell. He couldn't have known that he was attacked then. The wound was obvious with his all seeing eye, but Alastor specifically said at the Cup. Severus studied the thinking Elric as the boy took a glance out of the Great Hall's windows onto the green fields. Storm clouds were rolling in the distance and the sky as well as the ceiling was getting slowly darker.

"Edward?" he asked. The alchemist seemed to snap back to reality. He took a quick look at his pocket watch and then flipped it shut. He quickly stood up to leave and gathered his things.

"Severus, I think you are…. Right," he stated. He turned and rushed out of the door to his afternoon classes, he was already ten minutes late with even more on his mind. He ran all of the way to the Defense tower and through the trophy room. He bolted past the Dark art's classroom and saw Alastor lecturing a couple of classes about the Imperius curse. The Electric blue eye was swirling about the way and caught a hold of him as he ran past the door. A shiver ran down his spine as he turned the bend and bolted into his classroom. His Fourth years were already seated with their books and charts out. Izumi was standing at the front of the classroom giving him a death glare. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his teacher. The attention of the classroom drew to them.

"Edward, if I thought you would have been so lazy as to have missed your own class, I would have made you run a few laps around the grounds," Izumi growled at him. She leaned casually against his desk as he cautiously approached the front of the room.

"I-I got caught up with Severus," he said dumbly.

"If only everyone gave that excuse," Izumi retorted sarcastically. Edward tossed his coat on the chair and picked up a piece of chalk so that he could officially start class but his hand stopped as he saw what was already written on the board. _To train the spirit, you must first train the body._ He glanced over to where Izumi was smiling rather curtly.

"I am guessing you are going to take over the class?" Edward sighed rather grumpily. Izumi nodded.

"This is more your punishment than their learning," she smiled and pointed him to an empty desk. He sulked to the back of the classroom and took a seat next to Neville. The class started to whisper back and forth to each other, but his Teacher silenced them.

"I was invited here to set my pupil's manners in place, but since it has been making slow progress, I guess that I can invite his classes to join him," she smirked. The class looked curiously to each other but their questions were cut short when all of a sudden, Izumi's deameanor changed from a strict teacher to that of a drill sergeant. "ALRIGHT! Drop your books lets go! Down to the fields! On the double!" she ordered them. The class was a little stunned but Izumi was dead serious. She shot a look at Edward which left him completely shaken. She started to take a malicious step towards him but before she could take another, Edward grabbed a chunk of Neville's robes and bolted out of the room with him in tow. The rest of the class, noticed what he was doing and jolted out of their seats as well. Izumi ran behind them making sure that no one decided to skip out on their lessons. She was constantly yelling at them to keep it up and to move faster. Neville was stumbling along behind Edward as he was still being half dragged through the castle.

"Professor! What's going on?" he panted as the exited the Entrance hall and outside. The storm clouds were over the lake now, but weren't threatening to pour quite yet.

"Nothing that we are going to like," Edward said as he dragged the kid over to the fields.

"Edward! What are you telling your students about me?" Izumi's voice cried out to him. Edward's body spun around rather stiff.

"Nothing!" he replied quickly. Izumi smirked at him and then turned to the rest of the class. This was going to be the second tie today he was going to have his but handed to him during training. The students looked completely worn out from their run down here. They were all completely out of shape. Neville seemed to be doing the best out of all of them since Edward dragged him most of the way. One thing that the entire had in common with him however, was that they were all scared to death by the teacher. She was kind and motherly most of the time, but the instant something pisses her off or the word training is mentioned, she turns into a wild animal ready to strike.

"Alright! In order to train the spirit, or your mind, you must first train your body! Knowledge is useless without application. So far it seems that your teacher has failed to give you proper training and exercise," she said giving Edward a look, "For the time that I am here, every class you will have Physical training. And you will be given an hour on Saturday and Sunday as well!" Several complaints hollered out and rang through Edward's ears, but they were all silent. The students were too afraid to say them out loud with Izumi's presence near. "Great, now let's begin!"

They were separated off into groups for their training. One group was sent to run laps around the Quidditch stadium while others were doing conditioning with pushups and sit ups. Izumi walked around with a text book in hand and started to question the working students as they were training. Several people got some right, but others who were out of breath couldn't answer. As punishment, she sent them on extra rounds. Neville seemed to be getting all of the questions right only out of desperation to avoid more work. He was having extreme trouble doing a proper military push up even though his running wasn't half bad. A group of running students were running at a decent pace around the field, but Izumi thought it was too slow for Edward. As the students were making their rounds, Edward was sprinting his in order to dodge and out run several boulders that Izumi sent his way with alchemy. She was not taking it easy on him at all. As they trained through the entire lesson, the storm clouds drew over the school and draped it in a dark haze. Thunder clashed from them and rain started to pour out. The field caked in mud and drenched all of their robes. Izumi ordered the students to run inside after the bell rang, but she kept Edward outside to finish his laps. He still had thirty more to do.

Edward sprinted down and around the field as fast as he could with the mud sticking to his shoes. His clothes were getting quite heavy with the water and he actually had to ditch his shirts in order to keep himself from being weighed down anymore. His automail shone out through the rain which was torturing him. Izumi continued to send some boulders his way and he ended up having to break them instead of dodge them because his leg was starting to clam up with the weather. After his twenty eighth lap the thunder rolled in the sky with drum exploding force. Edward's leg completely jammed up and he was sent into the mud face first. He growled and started cursing at his metal leg. He lifted the cloth of his pant leg and hit the prosthetic a couple of times in the knee joint to get it moving again. It was barely worth the effort. The weather was making the metal shift under the pressure. Though it was his winter automail and was more durable, it still couldn't fight off a good thunder storm. His knee was stiff as he got back up out of the mud to continue his last two laps. It felt like he was hobbling a bit which made sprinting even more of a chore. The boulders stopped luckily, but Izumi didn't tell him to stop either. He was glad that it was his last class of the day or else he might have been outside even longer. Just as he rounded the bend for his last lap, his knee gave out again and he fell to the ground. His face was splattered with mud and his arm was giving him hell. He couldn't even think about finishing the lap. Instead he just laid in the mud and waited for the storm to pass over. His joints would be useless until then he would be useless until then. Poppy was supposed to have given him some climate control spells but they are only temporary and don't get rid of the pain. He must be in need of a renewal. As he laid in the mud waiting, Izumi walked over and glared down at him.

"You really did get weaker," she scolded him. He growled at her but nothing else came from him. Teacher let out an exhausted sigh and held out her hand to him. She propped him up on her shoulder and started to lead him around his last lap, his stiff leg sloshing in the mud. "You know, if you can't even attempt to get through an obstacle, I wonder how you will ever fight the capitol when it comes to it."

"It's the damn weather," he grumbled. Izumi shot him a look as they rounded the far post.

"What if it is raining when you fight? Are you just going to stop then?" Izumi asked him. The image of Scar flashed through his head when he and Alphonse were trapped in the alley way. He didn't give up because of the weather, he gave up because of Alphonse. He got scolded for it afterwards.

"Edward," Izumi said leading him in the direction of the Castle. She picked up his soaking wet shirts from the ground as they passed them. "Don't give up no matter what the reason. I don't want to see you falter when you hit a wall like this, run right through it." Edward let out a little chuckle as they made it into the castle entrance hall.

"Like Platform 9 ¾ ," he said flatly. "Teacher, I didn't expect you to be giving me more than one lesson while you were here. McGonagall would be pleased."

"I am your teacher, I teach things. If you don't learn that is my fault," she stated. She set Edward down to rest on the Entrance Hall steps outside of the Great Hall. She tossed is wet clothes to the side and sank down beside him. "Edward, about why I am here, McGonagall told me that you fought with a teacher."

"I think you beat that out of me on the hilltop earlier," Edward grumbled as he was sorely reminded about his duel with Teacher.

"No, Edward. It just isn't that. I don't want you to get into any unnecessary danger unless needed. You should only put yourself in danger for the things important to you. Don't go dying before you get Alphonse back," Izumi scolded him. "Fighting with teachers, fighting against magic, is not going to help you in any ways. You should listen to Mr. Moody, he has a tight head on his shoulders there."

"Teacher, are you sure? He seems quite-" Edward asked her but Izumi cut him off with a glare.

"Yes, he is the Defense teacher after all isn't he? Constant Vigilance is something that I have been trying to tell you for years. I bet a nickel that what happened to you right there," she said pointing to his scar on his stomach, "was because you weren't vigilant enough. What was it? Attacked from the back?" she asked him. Edward looked down at his bare chest and studied the long scar that ran down his side for a moment. He got it because he failed to realize that there were two stones rather than just one. He wasn't ready for it.

"Something like that," he muttered to the floor. Izumi smiled ever so slightly and pulled him into an awkward hug. He was quite shocked for a moment.

"Be careful. I want to see you and Alphonse whole again the next time I see both of you together," she stated as she stood up from the ground.

"Wait Teacher, I asked you if you were alright earlier. You over worked a lot recently, is everything okay?" he asked innocently.

"Don't go setting my boundaries Edward!" Izumi yelled at him. She gave him a light slap over the head. After she calmed down a bit from having her student speak out to her like that, she sighed. "I am not cured. They are still missing, but I had someone help me so that I can work like normal again. I am very grateful for that." She said distantly. Edward raised an eyebrow at her statement. Someone fixed her? Whoever it was, they were either really resourceful, or rather generous to help his teacher out like that. She no doubted is trying to find some exchange to repay the person with.

"Who was it?" he asked quietly. Izumi looked down at him, but she didn't answer. A few students started to come from the stair cases in order to go to dinner. A few started to whisper back and forth when they caught a glimpse of Edward without his shirt on. He quickly clapped his hands and dried his coat and slipped it on over his arms. Izumi nodded and picked him up again. They needed to get him to Poppy for some more climate spells.

…

Poppy was not on well terms with Edward's teacher. The fact that Izumi forced Edward to fight and run in his 'condition' really set her off, but even more so when they were talking about the weather. Everyone knew that the atmospheric pressure hurts prosthetics when it rains. Edward was out in it for almost two hours and she feared for not only his metal limbs but also for him incase he got a cold or something. Poppy sent several angry glares at his teacher not even caring that she was an expert martial artist with a frightening demeanor. Izumi was fine with it though and didn't do anything to piss the nurse off any more. Poppy gave Edward extra powerful climate spells, but not without several unnecessary looks at his fully healed gut wound. She was still worried about it.

Edward eventually had to force the Nurse away from him since he still had to get to his detention with Ron and Malfoy. Izumi was escorted to her chambers by a rather willing house elf while he sprinted down the halls with his fully functional limbs. He was still covered in dirt since the nurse was more concerned over how Izumi treated him rather than his appearance, but luckily Poppy ordered a house-elf to bring dinner to him. This was the second meal that day that he completely missed. He skipped down the halls of the Armoury and bolted towards his classroom. Alastors was thankfully empty so he didn't have to worry about the crazy eyed fool trying to give him an extra lesson. When Edward got to his classroom, he found that Ron and Malfoy had already taken their seats on opposite ends of the room. Ron was trying to focus on his Divination's homework but Malfoy seemed to be finished or neglecting his. They both looked rather shocked to see a completely muddy Elric race into the classroom.

"Sorry I am late. I got held up," Edward said as he plopped tiredly down in his chair. His sore body seemed to sigh with relief from taking its weight off for a while.

"Mrs. Curtis isn't coming is she?" Ron asked a bit skeptically. Edward shook his head and Ron looked like he was his savior. The students didn't like Izumi teaching them that was for sure. He felt the same way when he was first learning under her, but his determination was worth the effort.

"Draco, don't you have work to do?" Edward asked the kid.

"No, not today," he mumbled.

"Come on! I know you take Divinations! You have to have some of it!" Ron threw at the boy. Draco glared at the red head and took a glance at his giant pile of paperwork.

"Unlike you Weasley, I didn't procrastinate to get it finished," Malfoy snubbed. Ron growled a bit and turned his work so he wouldn't have to look at the bond haired boy. Edward rolled his eyes at them.

"Draco, where were you during Alchemy class? I think Izumi assigned some questions during the lesson you could get started on those," Edward stated pulling out his own notebooks from his drawer.

"Wait! We have alchemy homework too?" Ron exclaimed in astonishment. With the sudden realization the boy let out a low groan and slammed his head on his parchment. The kid must have been loaded with work. Edward grinned a bit at the boy's misfortune. Procrastination was a student's worse enemy.

"I am not taking alchemy this year," Malfoy replied dully. Edward was a little taken aback by the kid's statement. Though he rarely showed it, he knew the kid loved alchemy. He showed it through his effort last year by almost matching Granger in grades.

"What do you mean?" he asked him. Draco crossed his arms and slouched down in his seat.

"You heard me. I am not taking it this year. My father wouldn't allow it. He pulled me off of the class list after the Quidditch tournament. He said that my mind shouldn't be trashed by a Mud's dirty atmosphere." Ron's quill snapped and he got up to shout at the blonde kid. He, though a pureblood, was very sensitive to the foul name calling of the mixed variety.

"I bet your father couldn't see past his huge ego! You know that is a lie!" Ron scolded him.

"Ronald, shut up," Edward groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Come on Edward! You aren't going to take this are you? He called you a Mud!" Ron retorted. Edward picked up one of his crumpled pieces of paper and threw the paper ball at the kid. It lightly hit him in the head but seemed to grab his attention. Edward pointed his finger at Ron menacingly.

"Ron, I said shut up. I know some people don't like me and though I hate being called that, it isn't the topic of the conversation right now. You two were brought here for fighting yes? I don't want you to have to stay here because of it," he scolded the red head. Ron looked away rather angry, but continued to scratch Divination's homework down. Edward walked over to where Draco was sitting and took a seat across from him at the lab table. "Draco, your father has always hated me and I think our conversation at the match didn't smooth anything over. But since I now have a full perspective on his opinion, why don't I ask for yours. Do you want to take this class?" Draco's head shot up and he looked at the teacher with rather curious but confused expression.

"I can't though," the boy mumbled as if in defeat. Edward rolled his eyes at the boy and held out his hand.

"Give me your schedule," he demanded. Draco flustered through his satchel and pulled out a crisp piece of parchment paper with the school week written out on it. Edward took it and looked it over.

"Well, in order for you to participate in my class you need to come three days a week at the least. It looks like you can come Monday during my Sixth year Griffindor/Slytherin class, Wednesday during my Third year Gryffindor class, and then Thursday when the rest of the grade meets. That should just about settle it. All of those classes are all on level two so you should be fine, but I think that the Weasley twins might put some competition forward grade wise," Edward stated as he rolled the schedule up and handed it back to Malfoy.

"But Professor, I can't my father doesn't want me to enroll! The instant he sees my report card-"

"You want to take it though don't you?" Edward cut him off. Draco nodded feebly and the alchemist grinned at him. "This won't be a normal class Draco. Call it a hobby of some sort. It won't appear on your family report card, but the credits that you receive will still be kept and recorded. This is more of an educational advancement opportunity." Edward walked back to his desk and took out and extra copy of the text book he got and tossed it to him. Draco took it rather clumsily and stuffed it into his backpack.

"I expect to see you Monday then with the homework in full," Edward smiled at him. Ron let out an inaudible mumble as he continued to buzz down words on parchment. Draco glared at the red head for a lingering moment. There was a knock on the classroom door and Edward saw two heads of Hermione and Harry poke in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" he asked them.

"Umm, I wanted to know if I could do my Divination's homework with Ron. It is due tomorrow and we both need to work on it, sir," Harry asked quietly. Edward nodded and pointed to a seat next to Ron who looked rather relieved to be getting a break from his work.

"Granger, how about you?" Edward asked her. She was carrying a box and a clipboard with some paper attached to it.

"I-I was starting a campaign and I wondered if you wanted to join it," she said walking in and setting the box down on his desk. Edward took a look inside of it. There were badges with the word SPEW written all over them. He raised his eyebrow and looked at her.

"Spew?" he questioned. A few laughs came from Ron and Harry, but she ignored them and nodded happily.

"It is my campaign for house elf rights! I think it is wrong how they are being treated as slaves! I am trying to make a petition as well as a service for house elves!" Edward picked up the clip board she was holding which had all of the names of the people who signed up on it. There were only three; Harry, Ron, and Neville who was probably pressured into it. Edward glanced over to where the two were working on their divination's homework. They shrugged in defeat. It was obviously not their choice to join. Just then a Hogwart's house elf walked into the classroom as well with a plate of sandwiches and a bowl of soup for Edward's dinner.

"Mr. Elric, Galleous has brought your dinner sir. Galleous is sorry to hear that you missed it. Mistress Promfery also asked Galleous to bring some pain releivers for you sir," the short rather young house elf said to him. Hermione looked rather shocked and angry with him for doing so. Ron snickered a bit from his desk knowing full well that Hermione was trying to campaign against the very thing Edward was doing.

"Thank you, Galleous," he replied to the tiny creature. Instead of scurrying off like most of the elves do however, Galleous seemed to be contemplating something. He looked rather reluctant to leave. "What is it, Galleous?" Edward asked him kneeling down to the house elf's level. Huge blue eyeballs glanced down to the floor as if trying to think of something.

"Galleous, is sorry for speaking out to you sir, but Galleous wanted to tell you that you have some dirt on your face," he said pointing to his own nose as a guide. Edward touched his face just remembering he was covered in layers of mud from his expeditions outside. He let out a bellowing laugh at the elf's innocence. It scared Galleous a bit. "Sir, Galleous is sorry if he insulted you," the elf apologized quietly trying to calm Edward down. The alchemist waved him off as he tried to regain control over his voice.

"No! No! Galleous! Thankyou!" Edward said through fits of laughter. He clapped his hands and placed them on his clothes, getting all of the dirt off of them. "No need to apologize for it! I completely forgot about it!" he took one of his gloves off and transmuted it into a small handkerchief which he used to wipe some of the dirt off of his face. "How's that?" he asked the elf as he wiped some of the mud off. Some of the dirt just ended up smearing about in some places but it definitely worked.

"Very good sir," the elf smiled weakly. Edward nodded back to him and Galleous scurried off out the door. Edward stood up from where he was kneeling and took a seat at his desk. It was still raining outside and though the climate control spells helped with his automail movement, they did nothing for the pain. He took a few of the medicine that Poppy gave him and swallowed them along with a big glass of water. Hermione was absolutely infuriated with him. She wore a scowl much like one would wear if they smelled something terrible.

"What?"

"Professor! The house elves are slaves how can you just force them to work like that?" she scolded him.

"Hermione, I missed not only dinner, but breakfast today and I am very grateful that Galleous brought me some because I was starving. I would be a living wreck without them. He seemed happy helping me too," Edward noted.

"But that is because they don't know any better!" Hermione retorted.

"So what you are saying is that they shouldn't enjoy helping people?" Edward asked her skeptically. She looked a little taken aback from his question and faltered a bit.

"N-no. They should know better than to be treated like worthless creatures! They don't get any pay, and are forced into jobs that they don't want to do!"

"Okay, so let's see. Some elves cook food, some elves clean the dorms, and some elves help people like me. In return, we give them food, a place to sleep, clothes, and decent breaks and sense of community. I think that is just about equivalent," Edward said taking a bite out of his sandwich. "Is your campaign for taking all of that away?"

"No! Don't you remember Winky? She was afraid of heights and was terrified. You had to help carry her down from the stadiums! I want to help them by giving them basic rights!" Hermione told him. Edward nodded a bit remembering the scared little Winky. She was a nice little elf and it was a bit sad seeing her forced to do something like that. Edward let out a sigh.

"Hermione, some elves I know are treated bad, but they really do like to do generous and helpful work. Being a good humanitarian isn't a bad thing. Trying to change rights for house elves at Hogwarts isn't going to do anything because they are all treated well. If you really want to make a campaign you can drop the big picture for once and respect the elves choices."

"But what about all the other elves out there? We need to help them!"

"Then go help _them. _Leave the ones who like their work alone. If you want to help out here do what I do and treat them with respect," Edward told her. Hermione was still angry.

"How are you treating them with respect?" she asked him still a little mad that he was actually using them as work.

"I call them by their real names, I acknowledge them when they enter a room, I use manners, and I talk to them at eye level," Edward stated casually as he propped his feet up on his desk. What he said seemed to strike a nerve in Hermione she stared at him blankly as he started to massage his shoulder a bit. She quietly picked up her box and clip board and stormed silently out of the room. Edward glanced over to where Ron and Harry were sitting. "Is she always like this?" he asked them.

"I have been trying to tell her that for a while now, but she wouldn't listen. You should have seen her face when she found out that house elves actually cook the food too. She didn't eat for a day," Ron commented. Harry nodded.

"Dobby however seems to like being free though, so I can see where she gets it from," he added.

"Thanks to you two, my father needs a new house elf," Draco muttered. Harry and Ron shot him a look that told the boy to shut up. Edward was a little confused with the boy's statement but brushed it off. They still had a few more hours to go until their detention was over.

As it turned out, Ron and Harry were supposed to be predicting the future events for the next week for their divination's homework. Edward heard them talking about stupid scenarios like one of them was going to be attacked by a hippogriff, which really hit a sore sport for Draco, and other things. Once when the two eventually ran out of ideas about their incoming fates, Edward added a few to their list which they gratefully wrote down for their homework. He just hoped that their papers weren't graded. Draco took to finishing the detention with a few moments of studying alchemy. He asked a few questions about the molecular bonding and Edward, being the alchemy teacher, happily answered them. He even let the boy practice a bit of the simple circles. By the end of the day, they were each tired and were grateful to now have time to sleep, especially Edward who had a long and exhausting day. He locked his classroom and ran to his chambers in the Gunhilda cooridor. A nice long shower and rest was calling his name.

**Fact: Fire can't happen out in space. There is no substantial source of oxygen to fuel the fire so it is impossible for it to happen out in space. All of the movies that show exploding starships and everything is lying to you because the flames wouldn't be able to be created. Fire can only happen with a source of oxygen which is why they are able to be created **_**inside**_** a spaceship but not outside. Stars and suns are able to burn because of the fusion inside them and the mixing of hydrogen, oxygen, and other gasses. A regular open flame cannot happen without the presence of oxygen.**


	10. Military Matters

**Alright, I am sorry for the super long wait and the short chapter, but I was really tired the past two weeks from softball games, SATs, and AP studying. It will be the same for the next few weeks, but I will try to write more and get these chapters up sooner. My schedule is just crowded. However, on a good note, next chapter is….dah dah daaaahh! The arrival of the other schools! Yay! I hope to get that up as soon as possible but this weekend is also going to be booked but I hope I can still write. If you want story status updates and the news on my next post, look on my profile page. I am grateful for all of the reviews, but please stay with me while I struggle through exam month alright?**

CHAPTER 10

Military Matters

"How long has he been out there?" Fred asked George as they watched the small figure of Edward Elric run laps around the school grounds. He was carrying what seemed to be a huge rock on his bare back while Izumi just watched from the comfortable shade. Running laps around the grounds wasn't easy, it was nearly two miles in circumference. Edward has made at least six laps already. It seemed that his teacher was really beating Edward today. She gave all of the classes a day off but still was spending her time making him run. He has been out there all day.

"How long is he going to stay out there?" George asked him. Fred just shrugged. They watched the little figure disappear around the corner of the hill from the balcony on the fourth floor. A few other people gathered around them to see what they were looking at, but didn't find it too interesting. "Why does she work him so hard?"

"Maybe it is punishment for something," Fred muttered they watched Izumi get up and talk to Alastor for a bit. After a while Edward appeared again from around the corner of the building. George shook his head.

"We get the day off and he gets to haul dirt." The bell rang for class and Fred and George took one last look as their teacher disappeared again around the bend.

…..

"You like to make him work don't you?" Alastor chuckled as he walked up to the alchemist as she laid on the grass reading a book.

"Moody, you of all people should understand that there is never a lesson worth teaching if there is no pain," she sang as she turned the page of the book. It was a beautiful day, and the third day of October. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and even the giant squid in the lake was playing around in the water. Alastor was glad to be outside today but kind of felt bad for Edward who was probably the only person who couldn't actually enjoy it. Being outside and working outside are two different things. He sat down on the grass next to Izumi with his clumpy prosthetic leg and watched the young boy make his runs.

"You could give the lad a break for at least one day right? Let him enjoy the weather," Alastor chided. Izumi smiled and turned the page of her book.

"I am letting him off, he doesn't have to teach classes for the entire day. However, I will run him till he drops," she said curtly.

"What the lad do to get this punishment?" Alastor joked. Izumi said absolutely nothing and continued to read. It wasn't meant to be a serious question, but he got a serious response. He waited for a better answer but none came. "Come on, it couldn't have been that bad. I know the lad's sticks aren't all in the right places but he has a good head on his shoulders."

"Mr. Moody, you should try learning a thing or two about alchemy, it might fascinate you. However, like science there are laws to it. There are some things that alchemy cannot do," she said turning a page of her book. She didn't even look up when Edward came running back around the corner of the grounds. He was still carrying the heavy weight and also trying to avoid the rampaging limbs of the willow tree that laid in the direct center of his path.

"And… the lad was stupid enough to try?" Alastor asked. The teacher didn't respond but she didn't have to. Alastor knew what the silence meant. Edward bolted out from the wrath of the willow and continued to trudge around the perimeter of the grounds. His automail limb glimmered in the sun. Alastor glanced down to his own prosthetic for a moment. "I am guessing that is how the boy lost his arm right?"

"If you are so questionable about my student's well being why don't you go pick up this conversation with him?" Izumi sparked. "He might benefit from a good talk with you."

"Yeah he doesn't like me very much does he?" Moody chided. He reached down to his flask and took a sip of his juice that was in it. Not very refreshing on a day like this. Edward was running along the outside of the grounds and Izumi waved the boy over to them. He trudged over but didn't set the heavy rock down. His breath was rushed and tired and his body was absolutely drenched in sweat. The young alchemist was exhausted. Izumi however was still glaring at him as if daring him to set the weight down. He clanged tight to it nervously balancing it on his shoulders.

"Edward, Moody here would like a chat with you," Izumi told him as she turned back to her book. Edward looked absolutely down hearted. It seemed he would rather run a couple more laps than talk to the defense teacher. However, Edward didn't retort, he instead shoved a huge meaningful glare right in Alastor's face. "Oh, and Edward, don't you dare set that rock down, you still have more laps to go," she taunted him. Izumi stood up and walked away to give the two of them some privacy while they talked. Edward grumbled a bit as he took a clumsy seat on the grass still carrying the huge rock n his shoulders. Alastor chuckled a bit at how awkwardly the boy was moving around, but he just received a death stare in return. Edward did not like him.

"Aright, so what do you want?" Edward grumbled. His eyes darted nervously over to where his teacher was walking down the hill as if he was afraid that she could sense his attitude and come beat him for it.

"Your teacher was telling me an interesting story about why she sent you running today. I think that I would rather be relaxing on a hillside rather than running laps don't you boy?" Alastor pried.

"Well, congratulations," Edward grumbled to him but nothing else came from him. Alastor looked down at the boy who was struggling a bit to keep the rock on his shoulders. Edward, whenever they would pass each other in the halls would always make extra unnecessary comments. It was a little unsettling that he was all of a sudden shut up. Moody nodded his head.

"I see. That bad, eh?" Edward glared up at him but didn't do anything else to provoke the teacher. He carefully stood up keeping the rock balanced on his shoulders.

"Now if that is all that you have to say, I will get back to my laps." Unfortunately for Edward, Moody pushed him lightly with his staff and he went tumbling back towards the ground. He was tiring out and couldn't withstand the light swing of the staff. Moody grinned at alchemist rather crudely.

"So tell me, what did you do to piss her off so much?" Edward glared at him and turned his head away from him. Izumi was resting a little ways down the field from them reading the book she brought. He couldn't run even if he tried.

"Alright peg leg, equivalent exchange. I will tell you something, if you tell me. Then maybe we could both get back to what we were doing beforehand," Edward gave it to him straight. Moody was a little pleased to see the kid's attitude reappearing slightly but also put off by Edward's sharp turn in demeanor. "Tell me how you knew that I was at the quidditch cup." The short alchemist glared at him with an intensity that could have lit a train on fire. Equivalent exchange seemed to be something this boy lived by. After a moment of thought, Alastor let out a small laugh which slightly caught the boy off guard.

"Come on lad, half of the world was there to see that game. No doubted someone saw you there and leaked information about it. I heard it through the grapevine. This eye can see more than just the outside you know," he laughed. Edward's grin turned into a down right snarl at the man's mockery.

"I call bullshit, Peggy! People knew I was there, but not one of the ministry men saw me get hurt except Arthur. Even if they did see me, the information didn't even reach the press so why would the ministry tell a senile old man?" he growled at him. Alastor gave the boy the crudest smile he could muster.

"You think that the ministry were the only folks watching the game?" he hissed to him. Edward withdrew a little as Alastor leaned in. Their eyes were burning each other shot. "The Death Eaters aren't always robed you know. And let me say, Death Eaters sure love to brag. I wouldn't have gone giving them a reason to have shot you like that." Izumi got up and started to walk over towards the hut near the forest a little bit. She sat down father down the hill in the sunlight and picked up her book again. Edward shifted his eyes from Alastor back to her for a moment but they didn't linger long. The crazy ex-auror leaned back down and relaxed as if he didn't just threat the Alchemist at all.

"So lad, are you going to tell me yet or do I have to call the owls in?" Alastor asked him impatiently. Edward took another longing glance at his teacher, but she made no acknowledgement of their existence. He drew a deep breath.

"All is one, one is all. I think that that little piece of information might be enough for you," Edward said simply.

"What kind of answer is that? You called me a dodger, how about you?" Alastor snapped at him.

"Well, I think that that is more than enough information to give you. All you need is to solve the puzzle," Edward retorted. He slowly stood up again and took a few steps back away from Alastor who was seething in the sun. He resituated the rock onto his shoulders again and looked down defiantly to the elderly wizard. "I have more laps to run if you don't mind," he said quietly. With a heave, he was off again running around the grounds on the bright green grass. Izumi, seeing that her student resumed his work, walked calmly back over to where Alastor was still sitting.

"So did you get your answer yet?" she asked him innocently. He nodded half heartedly and watched Edward disappear around the grounds of the building.

"Mrs. Curtis, there is still one question I wanted to be answered," he muttered to himself. "Why are you making him run if he already seemed to learn his lesson?" Izumi grinned at him.

"I am simply giving him something to preoccupy his time with. He would have wasted this day anyway moping about," she said.

"So you are trying to give him something to do to help him forget? Cause I could think of many more ways to get that done," Alastor asked her.

"Not forget. I need him to remember it forever so he won't make the same mistake again, however, he still needs to let go. He can't go walking around depressed about it every single year," she answered him. She licked her thumb and flipped another page.

….

Edward was walking around in a dark dusty void. He couldn't see anything, but the entire field didn't seem to have an end. He turned around as if attempting to get a sense of direction but nothing was able to point him anywhere. He was all alone. All of a sudden low quiet sobs reached his ears. Edward looked around but there wasn't anything around him to make the noise, yet it was growing louder. He turned his head and looked behind him. A small body of a boy was laying on the floor a short distance off. Tears seemed to be choking the little kid as his wails grew louder. Edward ran over to where the little boy was crouching. With the sound of his approaching footsteps, the little kid turned around. Edward's breath was caught in his chest as he noticed the kid was missing his right arm and his left leg. The little boy was sitting protectively over a limp suite of armour. Blood was covering the sleek metal and a blood rune was smeared on the inside. Tears flowed down the little boy's cheeks as he sobbed. The armour wasn't responding. "Why didn't you save him?" the little boy cries accused him. "HE WAS MY BROTHER WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP HIM?" His heart stopped all of a sudden as the little boy scolded him. It didn't work. The circle didn't work. The armour was not alive. The little boy clung to the hunk of metal with all his might and didn't let go. His sobs grew even louder. Edward tried to reach out to the little boy, but something stopped him. A hand gripped his shoulder and wouldn't let him help the little boy.

"_Edward, wake up," _a harsh gargle came from right behind him. The hand on his shoulder was cold and grimy and raspy breaths rang in his ear. "_Edward, wake up!_" the voice hissed again. He spun around and came face to face with his monstrosity. The guts were spewing out of its twisted ribcage and the gnarled anatomy which resembled the slight figure of a human being was bearing down on him.

Edward let out a little scream and jolted up from his seat. The hand on his shoulder gripped him tighter as blinding bright light was shone in his eyes. He tried to pry the hand off of him but he suddenly fell and hit a cold stone floor. "Edward! Calm down!" the voice came again but this time it was smoother and more concerned. The voice sounded human. Edward's eyes slowly adjusted to the light and his golden eyes connected with frightened black ones. Severus was leaning over him trying to help him up off of the ground. He looked around to see that he was in the empty Great Hall. He had fallen asleep during dinner. Edward shakily got up off of the floor and rested himself back on the chair he once was in. The only people left in the dining hall was Severus and Madeye who were hovering over him rather worried. A few house elves were there already clearing the tables and cleaning the chairs.

"Are you alright?" Severus asked him. Edward's body was shaking terribly and it felt like his body was coated in cold wet sweat. Edward slumped over the table tiredly and groaned.

"You had some nightmare there lad," Moody said gruffly. Edward didn't look at him, but buried his tired face into his arms. Izumi made him run for the entire day. His entire body was sore and aching making the third of October seem like a silly date compared to the physical pain he was feeling. However, not even physical exertion could get his subconscious mind off of the past. The flashes of his nightmare still latched on his memory. Severus's strong hand gave him a small pat on the back.

"I thought I told you to take the potion before you sleep," his cool voice muttered. Edward growled something unintellectual into the table at him. It was a few moments before the word around him seemed to calm down and his body stopped shaking. Severus sat beside him and Moody called over a house elf to get him something to drink. Galleous, who was clearing a few goblets from the tables. He brought over a simple glass of water for him to drink.

"Galleous hopes you feel better sir," the little elf smiled and then hobbled back over to his work. Edward took the glass but he didn't drink any of it. He didn't really feel like his stomach could handle anything really. He slowly stood up shakily and picked up the goblet.

"I think I am going to go to my chambers for the evening," he muttered to no one in particular.

"What are you going to do? Sleep it off? I doubt that is going to work," Moody retorted. Edward gave him a tired glare but turned and started to hobble out of the great hall. The two teachers followed him.

"Edward, you need to take your potions. I don't want Poppy to have to force feed them to you," Snape said to him. They entered the Grand Staircase and started up the stairs. Edward was having a bit of trouble getting up the steps because his sore body was fighting him, but Moody balanced him out and pushed him forward.

"I do take your potions, I just forgot today," Edward grumbled. "Izumi kicked me out of bed before the sun even rose. She barely gave me time to get dressed."

"So these nightmares are common enough for you to have to take a draught?" Moody asked shiftily. Edward stopped in his place and studied him for a bit.

"Yes," he said. The man seemed a little off put by that but they continued to climb the staircase. They all rounded the corner of the Gunhilda corridor until they got to Edward's chamber portrait. Edward was teetering a bit from fatigue and Severus and Alastor were helping him stay balanced enough to make it down the hallway. Fuery and Falman were arguing about something and Alphonse was off in the corner talking softly to Winry. No one was really paying attention enough to hear Edward say his password. They just kept talking. A little angry and tired, Edward flicked the corner of the painting which caused the fabric to tremble and the people in the portrait were sent tumbling.

"Come on guys," Edward grumbled tiredly to them. Mustang looked down at him from where he was standing and shook his head defiantly.

"Sorry, Fullmetal, but as I heard, you still have to overlook a detention. I was ordered not to let you in yet," Roy told him.

"I thought the great Flame Alchemist didn't take orders from anyone," Edward mocked him halfheartedly. Mustang looked like he wanted to burn the canvas. Alphonse stepped forward and pushed the Colonel politely aside to stop the bickering going on. Edward wished that he actually knew where the real Alphonse was. He hadn't heard from him in over a month now.

"Brother, it was Teacher. She wanted to talk to you in the office. She ordered us not to open until you did so or else she would dump our canvas in paint remover," Alphonse said softly. Edward let out a little groan.

"Did she talk to you today too?" Edward asked. Alphonse nodded his head. Even though he was just a painting, the armour still acted like his brother. The other year he spent October third in a painting by the river. He was really upset. Izumi must have talked some sense into him though. She wasn't heartless. Edward nodded and stumbled down the hallway towards the Defense tower. Severus said that he would go get him extra draughts for the evening and left for the dungeons but Moody followed him.

"So, that was your brother," Moody stated flatly. Edward huffed and marched across the suspension bridge. "You seem very fond of him. How is he?" Alastor asked almost sincerely. Edward didn't look at him and kept walking down the hall. He took the trophy room instead of the armoury to get to his classroom. Moody held out his walking staff and pinned it to Edward's chest stopping him from moving forward. He just stood there for a moment glowering over Edward rather annoyed. "You know lad, we are going to be working together for an entire year. I think it best if we stop bickering like this and actually have a meaningful conversation once in a while."

"Maybe some other day, but not today," Edward muttered and lightly pushed the staff out of his way. "If I remember correctly however, in the Ministry you said that you liked to keep information to yourself isn't that right?"

"I guess I did say that yes. Don't want any unnecessary information leaking out to the wrong sources," Moody replied.

"Well then, I guess that I should probably be wary of that as well." Just as they reached the edge of the trophy room, Edward heard a terrible screaming coming from down the corridor. Izumi's angry shouts could be heard halfway around the tower. Edward walked over to his classroom door where he saw Draco and Ron waiting nervously outside of it. They looked terrified. Izumi was screaming in Amestrian on the other side of the closed door. Edward shoed the two students away and opened the door to get the full blast of his Teacher's torment. He walked in to find Izumi yelling at someone on the other side of his phone line.

"No! Edward will not be taking the Alchemy Exam this year! He wants to resign from his military post. No, I don't care what the General says, Mr. Havoc, he will not be joining!" she hollered into the phone. Edward's eyes widened with sudden realization and he raced forward for the phone. He jumped for it and Izumi gracefully dodged out of the way as he collided with the desk. Moody, Draco, and Ron peered into the room with sudden entertainment.

"Give me the phone!" Edward begged his teacher in Amestrian. Izumi lifted the receiver above her head and out of his reach. He tried to grab it but she pinned her foot against his chest to keep him a safe distance away.

"Edward! I will not let you join the military again! It disrespects my teachings and it already got you into enough trouble as it is!" she scolded him. She held the phone up to her ear and turned away from him.

"Mr. Havoc, as I said before, he will not be taking the assessment this year! I want his license removed!" Izumi argued into the device. Edward tried to grab it from her from the behind, but she ducked out of his reach and flung him over her shoulder and across the room with her free hand. The class gasped as he landed on the ground with a clatter. His tired body was not taking it lightly.

"This isn't your decision to make!" Edward growled at his teacher. He sorely got up and ran towards her again. She side stepped him and close lined him in the waist. The air was instantly knocked out of him and he heard a snap of something from his hip. He went tumbling to the ground again and Izumi stood above him twirling his pocket watch. The chain was broken off of his belt and she taunted it above head.

"You won't be needing this anymore unless you want to tell the time," Izumi said to him. Edward growled and this time shot up off the ground and tried to side sweep her feet out from underneath her. She jumped and avoided it.

"Teacher! I need this! I can't give it up yet!" Edward scolded her and threw several jabs that were instantly blocked. Izumi avoided every shot effortlessly.

"Edward, you are not going to stay with them any longer! They are using you as their weapon!" Isumi told him. "They can't protect you!"

"I already know that!" He sent a right hook at her which somehow managed to strike her in the jaw. She took a few steps back and sent a round house to his side. Edward fell to the floor again and Izumi pinned him there with an overbearing foot. Her dark eyes burnt into his with sever amounts of disproval and he glared back at her in defiance.

"I joined the military to get Al back! I can't leave now, it is all I really have left," Edward scolded her from the floor. Her sandaled foot pressed down a little harder on his chest. He grunted a pit from the pressure.

"Now look at it, Edward. The military is corrupt and is deadly. You won't get much out of it anymore," she threatened him.

"It gives me contacts! I need to stay in touch with people if I want to get him back! Central is in trouble and I am stuck up here! I need to keep in touch with the military. I need to know what they are doing!" he added as he stared back at her. "You know as well as I do that Central is going to explode at any moment." Izumi's foot lightened up a bit but she still clutched the phone defensively. Edward raised his hand up his teacher silently ordering her for the phone. Izumi contemplated it a bit but eventually let out a tiny sigh and placed the phone back up to her ear.

"Aright, Mr. Havoc, I will put Edward on the line," she said into the phone. He felt bad for Havoc for having to withstand the wrath of Izumi, but at least he wasn't face to face with her. He was still pinned to the floor as he put the receiver up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Wow, Edward, nice to see you're still alive," Jean's jolly voice came through the line.

"Shut up!" Edward scolded him. Bellowing laughter rang from the other side. Edward groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "I heard you got released from the hospital. Where are you?"

"Havoc's General Store. We got all the goods you will ever need. It has been slow here, but with my legs the way they are I can't complain," Jean told him. There was some clattering in the background and Havoc scolded to someone on the other side of the line. "Heesh, newbies. Well, hey, Edward, Armstrong gave me a message for you."

"Which one?" Edward asked him secretly dreading either answer.

"The General. She wanted to tell you that there will be no assessment this year since supposedly you aren't on the government's good side right now as I hear it. What have you been doing?"

"Get on with the message Jean," Edward grumbled. He really didn't want to explain himself in front of his teacher who still had him pinned to the floor. Izumi was fiddling with his pocket watch, opening and closing it. He really hated having his watch manhandled by anyone.

"Alright, heesh, enough with the formality. She said that the Fuhrer is immediately going to reinstate you so you still need to act the part. She doesn't want anyone up there know what is going on down here. You know how it is. Trying to avoid something like the Drachma massacre that happened on the Briggs mountains," he said. "You were up there recently weren't you?"

"Anything else?" he growled at the man on the other line.

"Well, other than that, all that the General wanted to say was that if you show your face in Central again, she won't hesitate to destroy you. She really put emphasis on that part by bashing in one of my store's lamps. I heard she got a new position in the government though so I would better watch out for her. She is one of the new top leaders in High Command."

"High Command huh?" Edward stated below his breath. Izumi glared down at him and he turned his head away from her. "Havoc, keep me posted on what she's doing. I have a feeling and I think I like what she's going for, but I just want to make sure. "

"Sure thing Chief," Jean mocked him with loads of sarcasm, "I will just walk right on over to Central and read her diary for you."

"JEAN!" Edward scolded him. The man let out a burst of laughter that hollered through the entire phone.

"Don't be so tight, Edward! I am only joking. I will make sure to give you some information as soon as I get it. Don't worry," he laughed at him. Edward's face turned a bit red from the teasing the man gave him.

"Hey Jean," Edward asked after a while of laughter from Havoc. There were a few more crashes in the background and Jean hollered for the other workers to be more careful. "Havoc, did you hear anything about my brother?" he asked him. There was a strange silence from the other end of the phone.

"No, sorry but I haven't. Are you missing him? I thought he was with you," Jean said innocently. Edward let out a sigh, releasing his false hope.

"I would just like to know if you get any word about him, alright?" Edward told him.

"Roger that," Jean replied quietly. Edward thanked him and then handed the phone back to Izumi. She held it up to her ear to find that Jean already hung up and then placed it back down on the receiver. After the foot was removed from his chest Edward sorely got up off of the ground and stretched out his back. His teacher was still mad at him for wanting to stay in the military, but he didn't really have a choice in the matter at the moment.

"So, no news on Al?" she asked him. He shook his head tiredly and looked over towards the door where Moody, Draco, and Ronald were standing. They didn't understand a word they were saying but didn't seem to want to move. Edward motioned for the two students to take their seats but gave Moody a rather nasty glare. He backed out of the room a little ways.

"I am really worried. Winry said that he was travelling with Major Miles, but what if something happened? He would have called by now," Edward said to Izumi. Draco and Ron pulled out their study materials and started to work quietly. Izumi patted him on the back softly.

"Don't worry Edward, Alphonse will find you eventually. He probably just doesn't know that you are up here," Izumi assured him. Edward let out a pitiful shrug and sunk down tiredly in his desk seat.

"I am just worried that's all," he muttered. The clock ticked by for a couple long seconds and the scratching of quills filled the room. Draco was working on simple alchemy review while Ron was doing Divinations. Izumi reached out her hand and set Edward's pocket watch on the desk. He took it an shoved it into his pocket gratefully.

"Edward, I called you here because I wanted to tell you that I am leaving this evening. I am going to be headed over to Briggs to get some business taken care of. Just remember what I said and taught you," she told him softly. Edward nodded tiredly at her. He really didn't want her to be leaving, today of all days, but he couldn't expect her to stay any longer. He slowly stood up from his chair and rooted around in his desk drawer. He kept his Polecat hat that Hagrid gave him the previous year and brought it back with him for the winters. His late owl Scops used to love it but now there was nothing really attaching him to the hat. Edward handed it over to Izumi.

"Here, this might be useful in Briggs," he said as his Teacher took the hat. She took it thankfully and put it on her head. She looked even tougher in it as if the abundance of fur volumized her sense of power. She looked down to her student and smiled.

"I don't want you to get reckless, pick fights, or do anything stupid while you are here. We still need you back home," she ordered him. He nodded stiffly. Izumi pulled him into a farewell hug, one thing that she rarely did. It reminded him slightly of Mrs. Weasley at the Burrow. After a short moment, she pushed him away and waved him goodbye. "I will be seeing you Edward," she called over her shoulder as she walked out of the classroom. Edward waved her off. She left the room with the polecat hat sitting happily on her head. Edward turned tiredly back to his students and sank down in his seat. They were looking at him expectantly for an explanation. Edward just waved them off tiredly. He had to look over their detention for a couple more hours. That was the perfect about of time to catch up on his well needed sleep.


	11. Student Relations

**HEY! It is my next chapter! HAZAAAHHHH! Okay. I originally wanted it to be shorter, but then I wanted it longer. Soon I realized that I would have made it waaaay too long if I continued so I cut it off here. Sorry. However, I promise another update as soon as I can. My AP's are almost done. I have my major one on Wednesday and then only one more the week after so my schedule is clearing up rather fast. **

**I do have a question for everyone. I call the weird fabric that hangs off of the pants on the Amestrian military uniform over pants, simply because they go over the pants. I heard other people call them butt capes. Does anyone know what they are really called?**

CHAPTER 11

School Relations

Edward walked down the corridor of the Dark Arts tower on the day before Halloween all dressed up in his military uniform. Dumbledore sent him an early owl with a letter and a wakeup call. It wasn't his idea of a nice morning get up. The owl nearly pecked his eye out several times before it would allow him to read the letter.

_Dear Mr. Elric,_

_Our fellow wizarding schools, the Beauxbatons and the Durmstangs are going to be arriving this evening at 6:30 sharp. It is for the best of the school that the entire place looks sharp and orderly. I would like you to wear your uniform today as well as for the formal occasion of Halloween tomorrow. Make sure your classroom is in top shape! _

_~Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore~_

Edward really hated that even though the guests were coming in the evening, he was forced to wear his uniform for the entire day. It simply wasn't logical. Not only that, but the faculty liked to tease him about his fancy get up. Though they were already used to him wearing it by now, they still thought it was rather hilarious to see the rambunctious Edward Elric in a uniform. Most of the faculty however did also try to throw compliments out there for him, but he really didn't feel like taking any of them. All he wanted was to change back into his normal comfortable clothes that didn't have any extra pins or ornaments flying off of them. Edward walked down the armoury and saw that someone took the time to shine all of the suits. They were glimmering rather fondly in the morning sunlight even though the day was rather brisk. Several students were lounging in the hallway before their morning classes. Some of the girls were giggling a bit as he passed. Edward gave them questionable looks but didn't pay much attention to them. He pulled the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. His fifth year class was standing out waiting for him.

"Alright," Edward announced as he opened the door and all of the students filed in. "We will be picking our specialties all of this week. I called a fellow friend of mine who runs a general store and he was willing to order some books for us. Professor Snape was nice enough to pick them up for me since I can't do any instant transportation. He said it was for my own safety that I remain here. So while he comes back with the textbooks, I want you all to be thinking what branch of alchemy you would like to go into." Edward dropped rooted through his desk and pulled out his attendance sheet. When he looked up, several students had their hands raised in question. The ones who didn't have their arms raised were not paying attention. Edward let out a little grumble and sank down into his desk seat. "What is it, Mrs. Joski?" he asked pointing a finger to the Slytherin girl in the front row.

"Why do we need another textbook? I thought we already got our second year ones," she stated. Edward was about to say something when Severus knocked on the door. Edward walked over and opened it for him. The instant he did so, several levitated stacks of books flew into the room as the Potions Master walked in. He was a little grouchy having turned into an errand boy for Edward. The books landed softly on top of the teacher's desk. Edward looked them over happily as the students awed Snape's presence. It was only a rare occasion for the master to make his way out of the dungeons and up to the Defense tower.

"Are you sure this is all of them?" Edward asked picking up one of the chemical texts and flipping it open to a random page.

"Yes, unless Mr. Havoc's store had a hidden bookshelf, you wiped them clean," Severus muttered. He reached into his robes and pulled out a tiny piece of paper. "Here is the receipt. He made sure to give you a special 'military' discount, as he said it. But with the number of books you bought I don't think it would have made a difference." Edward smiled at him and snapped the book shut. He took the receipt and thanked him. Severus nodded to the classroom and walked out of the door. Edward stuffed the tiny piece of paper in his pocket without looking at it and turned back to his class.

"These are the extra text books I want you to use as a guide for your studies," he said patting the piles of books. "Since it is nearly impossible to learn every amount of alchemy in the world within one life time, alchemists specialize. If you all remember my Commanding officer's visit last year, he said a few words about a couple of subject paths. This year, you will still be learning the basis of alchemy, but I want you to start applying it to fields of interest as well."

"What are the different fields that we can take?" a young Gryffindor boy asked.

"There are a lot, and most of them I have limited knowledge to, but just to give you an idea, there is fire, stone, air, water, ect. There however are some more specified regions of research that I will not allow you to study due to the complexity and danger that they hold." Draco, who was in this class as well, raised his hand. Edward pointed to him.

"How dangerous are they?" he asked the Gryffindor table, who were still not used to his presence turned and looked at him. The boy stuttered a bit but kept on mowing down the questions. "I mean, if those field exist there has to be someone who know how to do it."

"Bio and medical alchemy are specialties that only the most intelligent and patient people go into. The equations need to be balanced so exact in order to avoid a rebound that they study for years to even create a single circle. However, there are dead-ends in specific fields of alchemy that no one can pass. It isn't that the equation is too complicated," Edward said looking around the room. "Oh, no it's not that," he chuckled a bit. Some of the students shifted uneasily in their seats. "It is that the price is so devastatingly high that even with a perfectly balanced circle the person performing the alchemy is doubted to come out of it alive." Fred and George looked at each other nervously. Edward was staring them down. He knew that the twins had eaves dropped when he was telling Mrs. Weasley the truth at the Burrow. He just wanted to make sure that they got the message. After a little bit of silence, Edward clapped his hands happily and turned around to his desk.

"Alright, let's get going shall we?" he picked up a clipboard with a list of the students names on it and set it on one of the first desks. He started to write a list of subjects on the chalk board. "Write the field you want to study next to your name and I will give you and a partner a book to use. Since I don't have enough books in stock you all will be sharing with one other person based on your fields. I am sure that Professor Flitwick could do a copying charm on them however." As he finished writing the list a few of the students got up and started to think about their majors. Some chose them right away but others discussed them for a little longer. Most people picked earth since it was the simplest and most abundant, but occasionally there was an air and even an agriculture field written down. Fred and George were having trouble trying to decide their majors. However, Edward convinced Fred to choose fire since he frequently caught his materials on fire the previous year. It would be easy for him. George chose chemical research. After everyone chose their fields, Edward paired them up and passed out text books. They either had to form groups of two or three based on the number of students and their fields. Some lucky students got to be in their own group because no one else wanted their choice. Only one person picked Botany. When Draco was in line waiting for his mineralogy book, Edward stopped him.

"Draco, I will be giving your book on Thursday since that it when you are with your own class. However, don't hesitate to come study with me. They don't call me the Fullmetal alchemist for nothing." Draco looked a little down that he didn't get his book, but it was really for his own good. It would be easier for him to study with kids his own age than with some a few years older than him. The rest of class was sent in a whirl of excited voices. The students talked and talked about their fields as some of them flipped through the books. Edward was glad that they were all ready to jump into their fields, but he was still going to have them study general alchemy for now. All he wanted was for them to start applying the ideas and equations to something that interested them. It seemed to be working fine.

The bell rang for class to be over and all of the students rushed out of the room excited about their new specialties. When the door finally closed behind the last one Edward ran to the fireplace in the back of the room. It wasn't cold, but he lit a small fire in the hearth. After the spark of the flames picked up, Edward pulled the receipt out of his pocket. The first thing that caught his eye was the bill. He spent over ten thousand on the text books. It seemed like the military discount made it eleven thousand.

"Military discount my ass," Edward muttered to himself. On the very bottom of the receipt where the consumer usually signs for authorization, there were some notes scratched into it instead of a name.

_Stay putt. King scheduled winter training Briggs. Stay putt._

_R.M._

Edward read it over twice. It was sent by Mustang no doubt. His handwriting was terrible. Havoc could have called him, but too many calls to the same number would have looked suspicious if anything was tapped. Severus picked the shipment up straight from the source as well incase owl delivery was intercepted like it was the other year. Edward tossed it into the fire and let the ashes burn to dust. The Fuhrer was leaving sometime in the winter for training up in the north. Colonel was no doubt waiting for this. Edward wished that he could have been down there to help, but it didn't seem like barging in unexpected was such a good idea. With the Fuhrer out of Central, it was going to be easier for everyone down there to move around, but to do exactly what, he didn't know. Edward stood up and patted his uniform off. Some of the students for his next class could be heard running down the hallways.

….

Edward straightened out his blue uniform as he made his way to the Entrance Hall late in the afternoon. The entirety of the school was meeting there before heading outside into the chill autumn night to welcome the guests. All of the faculty were assigned jobs to do before the guests arrived. Hagrid was already outside building a corral for some sort of large animal to stay in. He was working on it all afternoon and Edward was slightly worried that he would miss the arrival of the schools. Severus, since he was the head of Slytherin house, had to get all of the green robed students organized and ready to go. Not having a house of his own, McGonagall set Edward to work gathering and helping the first years into their lines. All of the students, as Edward saw had rather elaborate black robes on with matching black nightcaps. It was supposedly the formal school uniform. However, no matter how formal it was supposed to be, he couldn't really get past the fact that the first years looked like garden gnomes with the hats on since it made their ears look ten times bigger. Dennis Creevy, a rather exceptional gnome with ears even twice as large as the other first years, was smiling rather excitedly up at him. He was talking nonstop about how amazing it would be to have other schools come and sit in the lessons with them. He told Edward to make sure to show them some really good alchemy while they're here. As the clock struck 5:45 all of the students were all lined up and were being led down to the front lawns. It was a dark, brisk evening and everyone was shivering in their thin robes. Edward pulled his white gloves tighter over his hands. His automail wasn't that bad being the winter version, but now he was fighting the cold just like everybody else, trying to keep his regular self warm. As the minutes ticked by, there still wasn't any sign of life outside of the castle. There wasn't even the slightest movement from anywhere. All of the students were guessing how the schools were going to get there, even the teachers only had the slightest clue. Dumbledore was the only one with the full information in his head. Just as Six o clock was about to ring, a giant explosion came from around the corner of the castle where Hagrids hut was. Smoke started rising out and a few worried gasps came from the students. The faculty tried to calm down the students, mostly the first years.

"Edward!" McGonagall shouted as she tried to get the kids back in line. "Go see what's going on down there!" she commanded him.

…..

"Hagrid, you really need to put a lock on them or something!" Edward grumbled as he rubbed a few more scorch marks off of his automail arm. His hair was singed at the tips and he suffered from a few minor burns.

"I did, Ed, it just seems that they were a bit stronger than I imagined," Hagrid mumbled to himself smoothing out his burnt hair. Edward and the giant man were walking into the castle after a long evening of chasing down Blast ended skewts. The nasty creatures, now fully grown with hard shells and extra strong blasters, managed to blow up the boxes that they were kept in and run rampant across the grounds. Hagrid was forced to stop making the horse corral in order to get all of the skewts back into the containers. It took nearly an hour but they finally managed to put them all back in with minimal scarring. However, Hagrid did get his wiry black hair set on fire more than once in the battle. By the end, the schools had already arrived and they were forced into yet another chore which was putting the elephant sized horses into a short unfinished corral. Edward easily finished the corral with a clap of his hands, but the horses weren't easily coaxed into the thing. They trampled all over nearly squashing the skewt boxes that they just finished restoring. But they managed to complete it in time for the opening feast.

Edward slipped his uniform jacked back on after getting the last smudge erased from his arm and walked into the Great Hall alongside the Keeper of the Keys. The entire hall was it up with festive decorations and the tables were packed with strange people he didn't recognize. There were several students wearing bright blue uniforms scattered around the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. Edward noticed that many of the Gryffindor boys, especially Ron, were swooning over a particular girl with bright blonde hair that perfectly accented by her robes. Many Hogwarts girls were also gazing google eyed at the thin scrawny males from Beauxbaton. Edward noticed that there were other students there as well. Rather fit and strong boys and girls wearing fur robes were scattered in the mix as well. One of them, Edward recognized from the Quidditch tournament. Viktor Krum the seeker was sitting across the way looking rather glum. Many students were pouring over him like he was famous, which he was. Edward ignored some of the questionable glances he was getting from the Durmstrangs and the Beauxbatons. He walked up to the High table where several new faces were sitting as well. Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch were sitting in respected seats by Dumbledore being the ministry officials that were looking over the event. Hagrid made his way towards his seat where was a rather giant lady who matched his height and stature, while Edward walked over towards his seat. Unfortunately, there wasn't a seat available.

"umm, Excuse me, but you are in my seat," Edward said to the strange man with a large amount of fur covering him. He was happily digging into some dinner as well as a one sided conversation with Severus. The potions master looked absolutely annoyed by the man's presence. Instead of responding however, the man completely ignored him and continued talking. Edward shook the man's shoulder. "Excuse me, you're in my seat." The man looked up at him like Edward was the one who was annoying.

"Very funny boy," the man's heavy northern accent rang out. It now truly convinced Edward that these people might truly be from Drachma. The man waved his hand carelessly behind him as he returned to his dinner. "I am sure there are plenty of chairs down at the student tables."

"Edward," Severus muttered leaning in towards him. "Filch must have miscounted the seats. Why don't you make a chair?" The potions master gratefully scooted his seat a good distance away from the new wizard and allowed room for him to make his own place. Edward knew that Severus was doing this mainly because it would allow him to get out of earshot of the fur robed man, but also since Edward was truly in desperate need of a place to sit. He clapped his hands and placed them to the ground where the electrical blue sparks of alchemy started to rise out of the stone. In an instant there was an elaborate stone seat in between the two wizards. The man, as well as some of the student body were staring in awe at his amazing use of 'magic'. Edward ignored them and took his seat and began shoveling a few pieces of duck onto his plate.

"Who are you?" the man asked him in astonishment.

"Major Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, and the alchemy teacher at Hogwarts," he replied nonchalantly.

"Stop giving me all of those titles! You are only a child!" the man argued. Edward grimaced at the man's slight insult but tried his best to ignore it by stuffing a piece of duck in his mouth. Severus smiled a bit, recognizing that Edward was having trouble restraining himself from tackling the man to the floor.

"Karkaroff, his badges don't lie," McGonagall said to him from across the table. "He is from the Amestrian Military and he does teach here. I would appreciate it if you granted him a bit of respect." Karkaroff glared down at Edward as if angry that he was being forced to be polite. Edward silently thanked McGonagall for putting in her opinion.

"Amestris you say?" the man snarled. "You mean that muggle country down south? I can't believe this school would hire one of them." Edward was about to retort with something rather nasty but just then Dumbledore stood up to make his announcement for the opening feast. It truly was an important and historical evening because as soon as the old man stood up, the entire hall fell silent.

"Welcome everyone to the Triwizard Tournament! I would like to announce the procedures that would be happening this year, but first I am going to introduce you all to the wonderful guests we have this evening, Madam Maxine the headmistress of Beauxbaton, Professor Karkaroff the headmaster of Durmstrang, Mr. Ludo Bagman Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, and Mr. Bartemius Crouch Head f the Department of International Magical Cooperation. They will all be on the panel as judges for the tournament. Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman have both been working diligently hard on designing and creating the tournament so it is thanks to them that we have this wonderful reunion of the schools. With that said, Mr. Filch if you will," Dumbledore said with a large twinkling smile. Edward didn't even see the caretaker in the far dark corner of the Hall. On his cue, the man waddled forward carrying a huge, ancient bejeweled chest. It looked rather heavy and Edward wondered if the old fellow could even carry it that far. Finally making it, Filch set it down in the front of the Hall. A murmer came from the crowd of students as they all leaned forward to get a better look at the case. Edward saw little Dennis Creevey's head pop up above the rest as he stood on his chair to get a better view.

"All of the trials have been arranged for the tournament and are now being put underway. There are three tests that the champions must face throughout the school year and will test each one of them to the top of their abilities. The most important of these is their ability to cope with danger. One student from each of the participating schools shall be picked for the tournament through an unbiased selector, the Goblet of Fire." The Headmaster tapped the casket and the lid opened to reveal a shiny golden goblet in the middle of it. The gold twinkled and dazzled under the lights of the blue and white flames that were rising out of the top of it. Several people gasped at its unspeakable beauty. Dumbledore picked the goblet up carefully, making sure not to touch the blue flames, and set it on the lid of the box in full view of everyone. "Just sign your name on a piece of paper and throw it into the flames by this time tomorrow, Halloween night. The reaping will happen at the feast tomorrow and the three champions shall be picked. The goblet shall be placed in the Entrance hall so it is available for anyone's use. However, I shall like to warn you all that an Age line will be placed around the cup in order to ward off any under aged students from competing. Remember, you must be of seventeen to put your name into the goblet. Finally, I would like to say that this tournament isn't of the faint of heart. Once a champion is picked they will be bound to a magical contract and won't be able to quite until the games are finished. Those of you who put your names into the cup must absolutely want to participate in the games. Now with that said, I wish you all wonderful dreams tonight. Good evening to you all."

….

Edward did not have a wonderful dream, infact he had one of the worst nights he could remember. He woke with a start after another terrible nightmare to see his portrait door hung wide open. Edward didn't have to question himself if he closed it the evening before or not because he was sure of himself that he did. Edward got up out of his bed and quietly shut the portrait. He took the sleep potion last night and yet again it didn't work. He wondered if that had anything to do with the door being open. Edward got dressed and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. There was a bunch of people there already there. Some of the students were placing their names into the goblet while others were eating breakfast at the tables. Edward was forced to wear his uniform again since it was not only the draw for the tournament that night, but also Halloween. Madam Maxine was sitting playfully next to Hagrid which he noticed was a bit pink in the face and Karkaroff was sitting nervously on the opposite end of the table that Moody was. They were glaring at each other nervously now and then as they ate some morning eggs. Edward quickly pulled out a plate of for himself and a goblet of water. He tried to eat, but now the glaring fest that was happening between Moody and Karkaroff was now trying to include himself. The Durmstrang Headmaster had made his voice about muggles very clear last night and Edward really didn't want to deal with more of it this morning. He picked up his plates and headed out to the Entrance Hall where he would be lest disturbed by hating eyes.

Edward picked a seat on the steps next to Hermione and watched some more students place their names for the cup. It seemed like the entire Durmstrang institute put their names in. He knew that if they were allowed to do it more than once they would. Some of the Hogwarts students were mulling about nervously as some of them tried to pry their friends into placing their name into the goblet. Angelina Johnson put her name in the cup surrounded by a crowd of giggling girls. She just turned seventeen a few weeks ago. He remembered because in Alchemy class Fred and George busted out in a verse of 'She's a mighty fine fellow' and soon got the entire class including the Slytherin side to join in.

"So who put their names in already?" Edward asked Hermione. Ron and Harry were over in their own separate world panicking about the contestants. Hogwarts by far had the least number of entries.

"I think a couple of the Beauxbaton ladies entered, none of the men though, and there Is this rumour going around that Warren, the Slytherin boy put his name in as well. Other than that I think Cedric Diggory put his in too," she noted.

"Cedric, huh? He's nice, but I really didn't picture him as the champion type," Edward replied. Just then there was a large amount of hollering coming down the corridor. Fred, George, and Lee Jordan came racing down into the Entrance hall giving victorious waves. They each had a piece of paper in their hands as if they were going to throw their names into the goblet. However, Edward knew that they were a few months too young. "What are they doing?" Edward grumbled as he took a sip of his water.

"It isn't going to work," Hermione said underneath her breath.

"What?"

"An Age potion. They are getting over confident so obviously they took one. The line is never going to let them-" BOOOM! Fred and George who had happily jumped over the Age line were blown back away from the goblet as their names were spat out of the flames. Each landed with a tumble and soon, within a matter of seconds, were growing rather long white beards. Lee Jordan, as well as the entire Entrance Hall, was sent into a fit of laughter. It took all of Edward's energy to keep his food in his mouth while he choked down his own set of laughs. He applauded them for their courageous attempt, but not as much for thinking it through. Dumbledore, who must have heard the commotion, came out of the Great Hall and herded the twins and their rather remarkable flowing beards up to the nurses office. Supposedly two other people tried that as well with the same result. Lee Jordan's cries of laughter could be heard all the way throughout the castle.

"They're idiots," Ron mumbled to himself as he watched his brothers disappear around the corner.

"At least they're idiots with effort," Edward chuckled. He shoveled another spoonful of eggs into his mouth to find that the trio was looking at him funny. "What?"

"Edward, you are pretty good at fighting," Ron said scratching his chin thoughtfully as if he too had a snow white beard. "Why don't you put your name in?"

"No," he snipped quickly. They all looked down troddened.

"But why not? I think it would be better to have you as a champion than a Slytherin," Ron retorted. Edward shook his head completely ignoring the kid's objections.

"I will choose not to grow a beard today thankyou."

"Wait, you're not of age yet?" Harry asked.

"He's sixteen remember?" Hermione said to them. They shook their heads completely forgetting about the failed attempt at a birthday party the year before. Edward rolled his eyes and set his breakfast plates on the floor beside him.

"Anyways, I am a teacher, not a student. This tournament is only open t the student body. Plus, why would I join a game full of wizards and magic stuff? I can't do any of that," Edward protested. The hall quieted down as another person approached the goblet. Viktor Krum, accompanied by several of the other Durmstrang students as well as Igor Karkaroff, who had emerged from the depths of the Great Hall, carefully tossed his name into the goblet. All of the fans cheered and hollered at his success while he looked rather bored. He stood a good head over everyone in the room however, he walked with a slouched back which made him almost eye level with everyone. "How tall do you think he is?" Edward asked Hermione, however she looked rather annoyed with the fanclub than part of it. Edward stood up and walked over to Krum who was being tackled by millions of hooting Durmstrangs. When they caught sight of him they all turned rather cold. Karkaroff scowled and stood in front of his way.

"What do you want?" the man scoffed at him. Edward rolled his eyes.

"I didn't come to talk to his secretary," Edward retorted to the man. He took a step around the Headmaster and stared Krum down. He studied him for a bit as the crowd of Fur clothed friends grew rather ruthless and glared daggers at him. Edward was sure that Karkaroff told them that he was a muggle or else none of them would be looking at him like that. Krum however, stood as straight faced as ever as if he didn't even care. Edward at his full height stood just below the man's eyebrows. "How tall are you?" he challenged him. Krum seemed confused by the question but didn't deny him an answer.

"About five ten," he replied. Edward thought he was lying for a second and squinted his eyes at him as if trying to squeeze the truth out of him, but nothing else came. Edward measure himself to him and he did in fact go up to his eye level. He held out his hand for Krum to shake and the man took it.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Edward smiled and marched his way out of the crowd back to his seat. Several rather rude comments came out of Igor and his students, but Edward ignored them. Ron and Harry were looking at him in awe as he took his seat back on the floor.

"How did you do that? Just walk up to him like that," Ron asked completely amazed. It was as if he did an amazing feat just by waking up and talking to the man. Edward didn't answer him because instead he was doing math in his head. If Krum was five foot ten, and he was a few inches shorter than him … Edward couldn't help but grow a huge smile across his face.

"I grew an entire five inches!" he exclaimed. It was true. Unknown to him, that over the course of the past several months he began to grow at an alarming rate. He was practically frolicking in joy over the epiphany.

…..

Edward was back down in one of the Ginormous pumpkin shells scooping out gook and seeds from the center. It was practically the same size as last year, if not bigger but he still fit comfortably inside it even with his extra five inches of height. Hagrid would have done it this year instead of having Edward but he was dressed up so fancy that Edward decided not to get the man dirty before the feast. Hagrid was wearing a rather ugly brown suit and neck tie and his hair was combed back and sprayed with some sort of cologne. Though it wasn't the most appealing outfit that anyone saw, Edward knew he was trying and offered to carve the pumpkin again this year. Edward's uniform jacked and over pants were laid carefully aside. His pant legs and sleeves were rolled up to avoid any extra pumpkin juice getting on them. He might be able to clean his clothes with a clap of his hands, but the pumpkin smell was harder to get rid of. Severus was standing outside of the pumpkin along with Hagrid and was carefully and rather artistically drawing a carving pattern on the outside of the shell. Edward never knew the man was so good at art.

"Watch where you throw that stuff Edward, or you might just find that someone slipped some Bloodroot mixed in with your morning porrage," Severus threatened him as a rather huge pile of pumpkin filler landed near the man's feet.

"Sorry Severus," Edward said poking his head out of one of the holes that were already carved out. "Didn't see you there," he joked. Severus rolled his eyes and lightly shoved Edward's head back into the giant fruit.

"Edward, it has been over a few months already, are you in need of any more Dream draught? You haven't asked for any in a while," Severus said as he cut another slice of pumpkin out with a flick of his wand. Edward scooped the last bit of gook out and tossed the shovel out of the top.

"I don't need it anymore," Edward lied as Hagrid helped him out of the large pumpkin. The giant gave him an fluffy purple towel and he started to wipe the seeds and juice off of his automail arm and leg. Severus however, wasn't convinced.

"Edward, do you need more or not?" the man hissed at him. Edward plucked a rather large seed out from one of the crevices in his kneecap trying to avoid the man's eyes.

"See… um…. They don't quite work anymore. I take them and I still get nightmares, had one last night actually. Maybe my body built up tolerance for them?" he said trying not to hurt the man's feelings. Severus didn't care about most things, but when it came to his potions skills he was quite protective of their credibility. Edward looked up at the Potion's master and saw that his flaming red eyes were staring him down as if he didn't hear him right.

"What do you mean that they didn't work? One can't build tolerance towards a Dream Draught," he argued. "What happened last night?" Edward lightly shrugged and picked at a seed that was jammed in his automail.

"I just had a nightmare and then I woke up. For some reason my door was opened though, I don't know why," Edward said still dancing rather lightly around the subject. Severus seemed even more into the conversation though.

"And you didn't leave it open or anything?" Severus inquired. Edward shook his head. The potion's master thought quietly to himself for a moment. As if with a sudden realization he dropped what he was doing and quickly walked out of the hall. "Edward, stay here," he commanded before vanishing out of sight. Edward glanced over to Hagrid questionably but he was just as confused as he was. Not wanting to get on the man's bad side, Edward stayed in the hall and finished carving the pumpkin that the man left undone.

…..

Severus marched down the Gunhilda Goorsemore corridor to where Edward's picture was haning on the wall. All of the people in it seemed to be having a rather fun time as they chatted back and forth about the tournament reaping tonight. He was able to recognize a couple of them, but several he didn't know. Severus found the Colonel Mustang in the left hand corner of the portrait being scolded at by a military woman. He was the only one who didn't look happy in the photograph.

"Excuse me," Severus said in his nicest voice which still sounded rather dull and grouchy. Everyone in the portrait took their attention off of each other and looked at him. Roy stood up straighter, having the lady's attention diverted off of him, and straightened his jacket.

"Yes?" Colonel answered rather properly after clearing his voice.

"I need t ask you a very important question and it must be answered fully, do you understand?" Everyone in the portrait nodded. "Did anyone enter or leave Edward's chambers last night?" he asked them. The soldiers, the mechanic, and his brother all looked thoughtfully to themselves as they tried to remember the dull events of the prior night. Alphonse shook his head and soon everyone else did too.

"No, the only one who entered was brother," the little brother stated.

"Are you saying he left his own door open and simply forgot about it?" Severus questioned him. The short guy with black hair pushed his glasses up farther on his head.

"Yeah," he said. "For some reason, the Major left in the middle of the night and when he returned he forgot to close us."

…..

Edward quickly put his jacket and over pants back on and took his seat at the high table as the students were led into the hall by the other headmasters. The hall was entirely decorated and the pumpkins were hanging beautifully from the ceiling. The large pumpkin that Severus and Edward carved was hanging in the dead center. It had the three school crests beautifully cut out of it and was lit with a candle. The students were happily chatting back and forth excited to see who the three champions were going to be. Severus quietly joined all of the teachers up at the high table, but didn't care to elaborate on where he was for the entire evening. Edward had the wonderful opportunity to be squished between his two favorite people in the world, Madeye Moody and Igor Karkaroff who were quarreling rather ruffly with each other. The feast went by pretty fast as everyone ate quickly to get to the goblet ceremony. Everyone was excited but that didn't stop Moody from retaliating whenever Karkaroff would say anything to Edward. He was grateful that Moody was finally trying to do something nice for him since their fight at the beginning of the school year; however having to sit between the retaliating forces was not his idea of fun. When everyone was full of delicious desserts Dumbledore got up from his seat and walked towards where the goblet was gracefully set in the front of the hall. The headmasters of the other schools also followed to stand there and applaud the champions. Edward relaxed a bit knowing that the Karkaroff guy wasn't breathing down his neck every minute. He noticed that Karkaroff had left his fluffy bomber hat on his chair.

Dumbledore waved his wand and all of the lights slowly extinguished. Only a dim flicker of the pumpkin candles and the goblet lit the Great Hall. "It is now time for the ceremony. I think the Goblet is just about ready to decide. Those of you who are chosen, could you please walk along the staff table and then enter the Reception hall." Everyone quieted down as all of the attention was drawn towards the flaming cup. Edward sat up a little bit to see what was going on. The entire room was illuminated red as the flames turned a bright orange and spat out a piece of burnt and sizzling paper. It rose high to the sky and fluttered back down to the floor where Dumbledore caught it. Hushed voices were now whispering in excitement as Dumbeldore leaned forward to read the name and school in the firelight.

"For Durmstrang Institute, Viktor Krum!" Everyone applauded though half of them already guessed, or hoped, that it was him. Karkaroff beamed excitedly and gave the young seeker a good hug and clap on the back as he shook hands with the Headmasters. He was shouting as if he already won the cup and Viktor looked rather annoyed with the man. Edward clapped politely and shook Krum's hand as he walked by.

"You aren't that short you know, I am just very tall," Viktor complimented him in his thick accent. They smiled at each other respectfully before Viktor was forced into the Reception Hall. Edward took a glance down towards the fluffy hat on the chair as Viktor disappeared behind the back door. The Goblet flared red again and another name flew out.

"For Beauxbaton Academy, Fluer Delacour!" a rather thin blond girl got up from the Ravenclaw table and gracefully skipped over to the front of the hall. Several other Beauxbaton girls were rather upset about the goblets choice. They, obviously not being picked, were bawling their eyes out over why they weren't picked. Edward noticed that Fluer didn't even show a flicker of sympathy in her eyes as she marched on into the back hall. The Goblet changed colours for the last time that evening and a piece of paper jumped out into Dumbledore's hands.

"And for Hogwarts….. Cedric Diggory!" he shouted. All of the Hufflepuffs jumped for a standing ovation as the boy stood up and walked over to Dumbledore. He was all teary eyed and happy. All of the other Hogwarts houses looked rather upset that they weren't chosen. Ron in particular shouted out his conflicts with the world as everyone else politely applauded. Edward shook the man's hand and watched him disappear through the door.

"Welp, that's it," Edward muttered to himself half ready to ditch his fancy military uniform and exchange it for more comfortable clothes. Everyone seemed to believe it was over, except for Moody that is. He put his hand on Edward's shoulder signaling him to sit back down. In an instant the fames grew and turned red. The tips of the fire reach so high they nearly lit one of the floating pumpkins on fire as a piece of paper flew out of it. It wasn't just one however, two pieces of paper flew out. They fluttered through the air for a while as the air of silence carried them to the ground. Dumbledore looked calm on the outside but Edward could tell by the faint sting in his eyes that he was almost terrified. One of the two papers was caught in the headmasters hand while the other one danced out of the way and landed on the table in front of Edward. The edges were burnt from the flames and an inky scrawl was just legible in the center of it. His eyes widened in fear as he almost fell out of his chair in horror. Alastor and Severus looked down at him to see what was the matter. The potions master snatched the piece of paper off of the table before the Dark Arts teacher could. After one glance he quickly hurried over to where Dumbledore was standing reading the other slip. The Headmaster took it and turned to the crowd of curious students.

"Harry Potter, and Major Edward Elric."


	12. Disabled

**UGGG! Okay I finally got this chapter up. Sorry about how choppy it is and cuts off. I haven't been getting enough time to write since the end of school is drawing closer. However, it will only be another week until I am fully free of tests and exams! Yaya! I would like to thank everyone for their reviews and comments and I really hope you stay in there and bear with me for the next ten days.**

CHAPTER 12

Disabled

Alastor clung onto the collar of Edward's jacket as he dragged the alchemist through the doors into the Reception Hall where everyone was waiting. All of the judges followed hot on their heels, the headmasters all of which were very angry. Karkaroff was probably the angriest of them all. Someone had managed to put a pile of whipped yogurt in his fur hat while the ceremony was going on. It dripped down the side of his boiling face as he stared furiously at all of the Hogwarts champions. Moody practically tossed Edward into the center of the room. He stumbled a bit and fell with a clatter as his automail hit the floor. The Headmasters completely ignored him on the floor and started to pace around in complete torment.

"Three! Hogwarts can't have three champions!" Karkaroff complained as he paced around the room. The other champions who were lounging casually near the fireplace looked up in alert. They hadn't known what went on in the Great Hall since they left it.

"Three? What do you mean three? That can't be possible," Fluer argued. Cedric looked Edward and Harry over. Cedric was a couple inches taller than the both of them, nearly matching the height of Krum.

"Is what they say true? Are you two champions?" he asked innocently.

"N-n-no!" Edward panicked as he jumped up from the floor. "I don't want to be a champion!" Everyone frowned at him.

"But they say you are going to compete!" Madam Maxime's bellowing voice rang out. "Your name was in the goblet!" She turned to where Dumbledore was pondering the situation quietly. He seemed to be taking it a little better than the rest of them. "Dumbleydorr! This can't happen! We can't have these two little boys enter!"

"WE ARE NOT LITTLE!" both Harry and Edward shouted together. Apparently Harry was tired of being the youngest out of the group too. However, all of the wizards ignored their outburst. Karkarff furrowed his eyebrows and glared cold heartedly at Edward.

"Another thing, we can't have a teacher, as well as a muggle compete in our games. It is against the rules," he said stiffly.

"I thought your Age line would have prevented this!" Fluer argued. Edward turned his head to where the other champions were standing. Fluer was furious with the fact that she had two more competitors while Cedric and Krum were just slightly ruffled. They weren't expecting any more than them. Dumbledore calmly walked over to where the two of them were standing and stared both of them straight in the eye.

"Did either of you put your names into the Goblet of Fire?" he asked them softly. They both quickly shook their heads innocently. "Did you ask anyone else to?" They shook their heads again. Karkaroff however didn't buy it.

"They're lying! They have to be! Someone had to have put their names into the Goblet! How else could they have gotten there? Maybe they tricked it-"

"Tricked it? You think that a fourteen year old wizard and a sixteen year old muggle could have simply tricked the goblet into spitting out their names? Someone, someone only with powerful magic could have done something like that," Moody scolded the Durmstrang headmaster. "No, someone planted their names into the goblet intentionally just so that they can be picked. They wouldn't put their names into the tournament as deadly as this on their own choice. Someone is out to get them." Harry paled.

"What a thing to say!" Ludo Bagman exclaimed looking like he heard blasphemy. He was actually all for Edward and Harry competing. He was a man of sport and hated to hear the game tarnished with such rivalry. Moody gave him a quick glare and the man quickly shut up.

"This doesn't solve anything," Severus butted in. "Are we going to have these two compete or not?"

"NO!" both Edward and Madam Maxime said at the same time.

"It simply isn't fair. The odds are all towards Hogwarts. They heave three against one! We will either need to add some or lose some!" she argued.

"I am afraid that isn't possible," Barty Crouch interrupted. "The goblet's fire went out as soon as the ceremony was over. It can't be lit again until the next tournament. The students can't leave either since they are bound by a magical contract, they are forced to play."

"But I am not magic! I am not even a student!" Edward argued. "I can't compete in the games! I don't know who put my name in the cup, but I never wanted any of this! I can't die yet!" Karkaroff glared at him like he was pathetic.

"A soldier that is afraid of dying, how quaint," he growled.

"Even the bravest of people can't fight off the fear of death, Igor," Dumbledore said wisely. Edward rolled his eyes at him.

"I am not scared of the tournament! I just have other priorities that I must attend to and this can't get in the way!" Edward huffed. Karkaroff wiped some of the dripping yogurt off of his face. It was oozing down onto his robes now. Edward was kind of proud of himself for dumping all of that in the man's hat. It definitely made him look rather stupid when he tried to make an insult at him. Edward wasn't the one wearing whip cream on his head.

"Barty, you need to decide. Will this boy compete or not" Madam Maxime said.

"He has to compete. He just has to. There is no way around it," Barty said. "I am sure that he has some skills to use since the goblet did pick him." The crowd looked rather displeased with this. Karkaroff took to pacing as if trying to sift through any other problems they could have. Madam Maxine collapsed on the couch next to her tiny champion. The large giantess belittled Fluer making her look even more fragile than ever, though everyone knew she wasn't.

"How will we judge him though?" Krum asked politely. All heads turned to him as if it was a miracle to even hear him speak. "It wouldn't be fair that a wizard would judge a muggle. He needs to have a biased voter on the panel as well."

"Then we will just have to find one then," Ludo said simply. It was as if they could just pick someone up out of thin air. "Edward do you have any suggestions?"

"No, because for the final to last time, I don't want to compete!" Edward scolded the overly happy man. Dumbledore rested a hand on his shoulder to try and to calm him down. A twinkle in the man's eyes told him to stop while he was behind. That was that. He was competing. Edward growled under his breath and flopped down to sit on the floor. "Yeah, I guess I can have one of you pick him up," he muttered. Ludo looked rather pleased and clapped his hands together with excitement.

"Well, now that this is settled, how about we all get a nice night cap and be off to bed?" he said as if the argument they just had wasn't anything at all. Everyone was annoyed with his over sense of optimism. Harry in particular was still a little frightened since Alastor decided to announce a murder theory for him. He was standing rather pale near the fire place and didn't seem to want to move. Ignoring the Ludo's offer for a drink, everyone filed out of the Reception hall. Cedric had to hep pull Harry out of his state of shock. Karkaroff smoldered at Edward as he forcefully led Viktor out of the castle as if protecting him from the muggle disease. Maxime rushed Fluer out as well, but rather in an angry storm. Edward walked with Severus into the Entrance hall. Everyone was heading off to bed and they were left alone.

"Severus, how do you think the person who put my name in the goblet got my signature?" he asked him as they walked towards the entrance to the dungeon. Severus's mind seemed a little preoccupied at the moment. He took a little while to actually look at Edward before recognizing that he was being asked a question. He gave a small shrug.

"I have my theories," he muttered. "But Edward in the meantime, don't stop taking the draught, I need to look into something." Edward was a little confused by his statement. Severus still didn't tell him why he ran out of the Great Hall that evening, but before he could ask anymore; the wizard was already hobbling down into the dungeons. Edward stumbled up the staircase towards his chambers. He thought to himself the entire way; Why did it have to be him? Who could it have been? How will he even survive this? He let out an exasperated cry to no one in particular. He could just hear his students now, talking about how the muggle teacher was doomed to compete in the tournament. The Weasley twins would never shut up about it. He groaned to himself as he dragged himself down the corridor. The entire castle was empty since all of the students were either off in bed or partying in their dormitories. Several of the pictures were whispering back and forth to each other, all giving him strange stares. When he got to his own portrait, he found all of the paintings in a complete frenzy.

"EDWARD!" Alphonse screamed out of his oil containment. "Edward! What are you doing entering in the tournament like that?" Edward pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. All he wanted to do was leave that fact aside for a short moment.

"Al, I didn't enter. It wasn't me," Edward sighed trying to get one of the others to open the portrait. This was one of the disadvantages of having a door that talks back to you.

"But come on! You had to have done it! Can you tell me what it was like getting picked and all?"

"Alphonse, I wasn't picked on my account. We had this giant argument about it already. I am sorry, but I need to go call someone now. It is kind of important," he grumbled. The suit of armour looked rather down heartened at his brash attitude, but Edward really wasn't in the mood. "Al, I am sorry but I really don't want to talk about it. I can catch you up in the morning alright? I just really need to get some business taken care of," he sighed. Alphonse politely nodded and the portrait hole opened. Edward thanked him and closed the door behind him. It was going to be a long night.

…

"SHUT UP!" Edward screamed at his class. They were bouncing off the walls throwing questions at him like it was nothing. They were so caught up with the events of the champion selection that for the past few days they couldn't even think about alchemy class. They weren't even focusing on the general lessons or even their specialties. The only people who seemed to be learning anything were the few kids who joined Minerals and were being taught by him specifically. Some of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrangs who were sitting in on his lessons were absolutely furious and gossiping to each other on how he did it and what his true intentions really were. Edward even heard a few bets made on whether he was going to make it out alive or not. None of them were for the positive side.

Many of the students, in support for a specific champion adorned pins and pen nets on their robes an their backpacks. SUPPORT CEDRIC THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION, were what most of them said, and Edward didn't have much of a problem with that, but he did catch a couple that read POTTER STINKS and even EDMUD FOR FIFTH. He now had a drawer full of hateful pins that he detained from any of the students that entered his classroom. Not only were the pins a nuisance but so were the guest schools. Hogwarts students didn't try anything stupid on him since they knew what he was capable of destroying half the school grounds in a matter of minutes, but the other schools didn't. They gave as much respect to him as they did the blades of grass they walked on. Most of them would try to pull pranks on him and humiliate him in front of everyone. It was only last period that he had to get his tongue detached from the roof of his mouth from a spell one of them kicked on him while his back was turned. He would always catch the culprits in an alchemized stone cage of some sort but they would rarely face punishment because that was for the head of house to decide, in this case Madam Maxime or Igor Karkaroff. Due to all of the pranks that were going on Alastor would make sure to let his class out a few minutes early and walk him down to the Great Hall as a body guard. He felt utterly ridiculous and it made even more comments in the hallways.

Edward glared at his fourth year students to sit back down and they slowly and guiltily obeyed. The gamblers passed the last of their dues around and returned to their seats. The entire class that was exploding with sound a minute ago was eerily quiet. Edward gave a sigh and sank down into his desk chair. His chalk board was uselessly scribbled over with insulting sentences that were magiced on by a vandalist. He couldn't wash it off or even reconstruct a layer over it because it was permanently engraved onto it and would always find a way to show up again. His class stared at him while he tiredly stared back at them. The watch ticked loudly in his pocket.

"Who of you even looked into your work for this week?" he asked them tensely. Hermione, Draco, and Harry meekly raised their hands. They were all doing minerals with him and therefore got to study with him more. Neville also raised his hand even though he was in agriculture. Anyone else stayed stiff as a board and gazed up ashamedly at him. Edward rubbed the temples of his forehead in aggravation. "If this is going to go on all year, you are going to have to get over it real fast if you want any hope for the finals this year," Edward scolded them. "We only meet three times each week and so far none of you have done any of your homework, took any notes, or spent any attention to matters other than whose going to win the tournament. I know that I am now a champion, but I don't need my class to turn into another gossip station! Keep that for the lunch tables! Now, if you refuse to stop arguing whether I will survive the tournament I might as well start up another session of physical education to see how well you can survive my class." Edward glanced down at his students who were all staring at their desk tops or at the tips of their shoes shamefully. Harry however looked slightly pleased that he was giving this lecture. The international students however rolled their eyes in the corner where all of the extra desks were stuffed. Edward sighed and walked over to his cabinets and pulled out the pile of failed tests everyone turned in. He had to give every student a curved grade unless they wanted to fail the course to the end of the year with these marks.

"Now, before we close this topic once and for all do any of you have last minute questions that doesn't involve how brutally mangled you think I am going to get?" he asked glaring a bit at the gambling Slytherins in the back. Only one hand was raised while all of the other student's faces looked absolutely upset about the guidelines. It was Neville Longbottom.

"Professor, I-I heard th-that you will be needing a-a new judge. Who is it?" he asked nervously. Several head lifted up at the sense of the question. Who was it going to be? Edward handed him his test back, it was one of the only passing grades the entire class got.

"He's coming this afternoon. If you want, you can meet him during lunch. He will be sitting in a couple of classes with the other teachers so you might see him there as well," Edward stated as he started to hand the other tests back as well.

"How will we know who he is?" Draco asked.

"You just will," Edward said and placed his test on the desk. Some of the other students started to cry about their grades, and Edward rolled his eyes at them. It was their fault they failed. He was generous to give them such a big curve.

"Professor," Neville interrupted the cries of the class. "Is your brother going to be coming back to see the tournament?" He was still really excited to see his brother. Edward lied to him at the beginning of the year saying that Alphonse will visit but Edward really didn't know what to do this time. He didn't expect him to be missing for so long. A trace of Alphonse would have been better than him disappearing out of the blue. Neville looked at him expectantly. Edward stuttered a bit. He didn't want to have to lie twice.

"M-maybe," Edward said a little rushed. A couple of the students looked unconvinced at each other as Edward passed out the last test. The bell rang and the students shuffled glumly from their seats holding their many failures in their hands. Edward sank down tiredly in his chair and rested his head on his crossed arms. He glared intently at the phones as if Alphonse would magically call at that moment. Why did Neville have to remind him how much he missed him? It has been almost four months already that he didn't hear from him. That was practically the longest that they have ever been apart. He couldn't stand it anymore. It wasn't until one of them cleared their voices that Edward noticed some of his students were waiting there. Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Harry were looking at him with the most serious faces a fourteen year old could give.

"Edward, what is bothering you?" Neville asked kindly.

"Nothing," he muttered burying his face into his arms. He could feel Hermione's eyes burning into the back of his head.

"You haven't actually talked to him yet have you?" she argued. A long undisturbed silence entered the room as the students stared at him. Unfortunately for Edward giving no answer was an answer in itself.

"Geezes Edward!" Ron groaned. "My mum offered to send an owl to him when you were staying at our house but you turned her down! If you want to talk to your brother so badly why did you turn it down?"

"Because I don't even know where he is!" Edward scolded the red head. "Something bad might have happened to him and it is my entire fault for messing up in Briggs. None of my contacts know where he is and it is too dangerous to send an owl down there to find him. If I would have known that Kimblee had another stone, I wouldn't be in this mess. I could be back in Amestris fighting alongside my brother."

"Fighting?" Harry butted in. "What were you fighting?" Edward glared up him but he accidentally caught sight of Neville in the corner of his eye. The boy looked absolutely heart broken. He was staring off distantly as if he was fazed. Edward should have just kept his mouth shut.

"God, Neville-" he started but the boy simply just walked out of the room. "Neville!" Edward called out after him, but he kept walking. He cursed to himself underneath his breath and then chased after the boy. Edward caught up to him in the armoury. He was staring rather intently out the window as he raced away from the Alchemy classroom. Edward stopped Neville by the end of the Armoury and pulled him to a halt. "Neville, please, I am sorry I didn't tell you this before. I didn't mean to-" he started but Neville stopped him.

"Professor, is he alright?" he asked him as sternly as he could. His eyes were a little wet and red. "Professor, is Alphonse alright?" he asked him again after not receiving a direct answer.

"I-I don't know Neville," Edward muttered pitifully. Now, Neville did something that Edward least expected to come from him. The boy grabbed a piece of his coat and pulled him up to eye level. They were leaking a bit now but they were burning with a bit of anger.

"Professor!" he scolded Edward, "P-please don't you ever lie to me again about Alphonse! P-Please just tell me the truth. I can handle the truth! N-now you go a-a-and find him!" he begged. Edward didn't quite know what to say. Neville was falling apart. The kid slowly let him go and tried to dry his eyes but more water was coming out of them. He reminded Edward so much of Alphonse, they were practically twins. No wonder the two of them got along so well. "P-P-Professor, I am s-sorry. I-I didn't mean to, I was just-" he started apologizing when he realized that he was scolding and offending a teacher. Edward smiled a bit and looked at the bawling mess in front of him.

"Neville, it's alright. It's my fault for not telling you sooner. I am keeping an ear out for him and the instant I get a call, I will tell you," he said trying to cheer him up. It seemed to work because his sobs turned to quiet sniffles. He wiped his face now finally succeeding in drying it off leaving his cheeks red and flushed. "Neville, what is your next class? Do you think that you would like to go back to the classroom and have a chat for a bit?" he asked him. The boy glumly nodded.

….

Edward walked down to the Great Hall for lunch with Alastor after a couple more classes that day. Neville seemed happier after their talk. All he did was talk about his brother and reassure him that everything was going to be okay. Even Edward had to admit that he needed that talk himself. He was worried about him too and was struggling to find faith in his well-being. Alphonse was not invincible and too soft to not get into any trouble. After their little talk however, both Neville and Edward were feeling much better. He found out that Alphonse was actually the boy's closest friend though he might not have known it. Edward always thought that he was friends with some of the Gryffindors and he was, but Alphonse was the first person to meet him and not immediately think he was useless. Edward wondered how his brother was able to make friends that easily.

As they walked into the entrance hall, he heard some loud argument going on. Some of the students were blocking the way to lunch as they were all bunched up in the crowd watching the commotion.

"I think your friend is in need of some help," Alastor said gruffly. His eye was spinning wildly in his head as he took a sip from his canteen. It seemed to be running a little low. Edward heard another exasperated shout come from the other side of the human wall. He tried to push through the crowd but they were all really focused on the scene in front of them. Moody eventually had to force some people out of the way with a whip of his staff. They scattered and Edward bolted through to the center of the Entrance Hall.

"This is an outrage! We can't have him as a judge! This is pathetic!" Karkaroff's voice rang out. All of the people on the cup's panel were standing in the center of the crowd arguing rather crudely at each other. Hagrid's head poked up above the rest of them, level with the Madam's, and he seemed to be carrying something large in his arms.

"Are you sure this is who Mr. Elric called? It isn't a mistake right?" Ludo whispered softly. It was then that Edward realized that the thing that Hagrid was carrying was the ex-second lieutenant. Havoc was sitting in the crook of the giant's arms his legs completely useless. He looked rather scruffy from not shaving as clean as he once had especially around his chin, but the smell of cigarettes and women's perfume was still fresh in the air around him. His wheel chair was a ball of wire and metal tossed carelessly to the side. It was as if something ran crumpled it up like a piece of paper. Edward walked over to where Havoc was being held. He looked a little embarrassed having to be carried. He was listening carefully to the argument that the wizards were having. Edward noticed a green amulet around his neck which was probably the reason he got into Hogwarts in the first place.

"Havoc, what happened?" Edward whispered to him as the fighting continued.

"Oh, hi Edward, nothing much is going on really. This man just accidentally ran my chair over with a two ton motorbike," he said casually. Hagrid looked down at him apologetically, but Havoc waved him off. "If you could fix it, I think that would be one problem off of my shoulders," he asked him as he held tightly onto Hagrid's shirt sleeve. He was struggling to keep his balance in the man's arms.

"Why didn't anyone else fix it?" Edward questioned him dragging the crushed chunk of metal closer to where the owner was being held. Havoc shrugged.

"I think they are a little busy complaining about my capability," he muttered. The wizards didn't even seem to notice that any of them were there at all. Edward clapped his hands together and zapped the chair back to its original working form. The electrical blue energy lit up the hall as he morphed the metal twisted itself back together. The wizards were silenced as the light drew their attention over to what he was doing. Edward pushed it around and tested the wheels to make sure it still worked.

"Alright, I think that's it," he said as Hagrid put Havoc back into his seat. He straightened his limp legs out on the stands and put his duffel bag back on his lap.

"Sorry for that. At first I almost forgot it entirely and then…. Well… At least we got it here in one piece," Hagrid said optimistically. Havoc chuckled a bit as he tested out the wheels himself and made a few adjustments.

"Yeah, one piece is definitely better than leaving it, that's for sure," he smiled. Their light hearted conversation was interrupted by a voice clearing behind them. The panel judges finally realized that they existed. Madam Maxime looked rather intrigued with Edward's alchemy.

"Well, at least _he_ can do something," she noted looking him over. Edward glared at her as well as the other wizards. Karkaroff definitely seemed like he had more nasty comments to say about Amestris and its muggles. It seemed Karkaroff thought that a disabled muggle was worse than a standing one.

"Before any of you say anything more, I am going to tell you that Jean Havoc is my judge. We talked about it over the phone immediately after the ceremony. Dumbledore was also informed on this," Edward stated giving the old man a look. He wasn't doing a very good job at welcoming the guests. The man's sparkling eyes smiled back at him.

"Let me say it was a really long phone call, very late at night," Havoc added a little annoyed with Edward.

"How come you didn't tell us Dumbleydorr?" Madam Maxime complained wildly.

"I knew that Mr. Havoc here was going to be judging, but as for his physical assists I was not informed in the least. However that is not a problem. I don't expect that the judges would be required to run laps or anything while the champions are competing," the headmaster smiled back at her. Karkaroff scuffed and muttered something in audible underneath his breath. Edward took a peak over his shoulder and Saw that Moody was shoveling all of the students into the Great Hall rather than having them crowd around them.

"I will not allow this!" Karkaroff stated. "I demand a new, more compatible person for panel!"

"Sir, I think that since I am the only, what do you call us?" Jean asked leaning over towards Dumbledore.

"Muggles," he answered softly.

"Thank you, Muggle available for this position, I think that I automatically get the job. Anyway, if you failed to realize, I still got two strong arms to get me places. I think I can manage," he said. Karkaroff was absolutely furious to have been talked back to by a muggle. His face turned red like a tomato as he quickly left the scene. Havoc smiled as the man disappeared into the lunch room.

"Alright, if this is all, I think that…. Jean is due for a debriefing later this evening after the weighing ceremony. Everything about the tournament will be explained then," Ludo said quickly trying to wrap things up.

"Wait, Weighing Ceremony? What Weighing Ceremony?" Edward asked a bit confused. He didn't hear anything about this at all.

"Don't worry Edward, I will send someone for you when the time comes, a simple press conference. However, I would be in dress if you'd like. Make yourself look good," Dumbledore smiled. Edward let out a huge groan. It was going to be another day in his uniform. Jean grinned at him. He knew how the alchemist didn't like to wear his military dress.

"Mr. Havoc," the headmaster addressed him as the rest of the officials slowly made their way to lunch. "Your room will need some alterations due to your predicament. I will have them done by tomorrow, but by then you can choose to either stay with Edward or in a spare dorm room. For now until the end of the year I would advise you not to take off this amulet. It is rigged with enchantments as well as a translation spell for you," Dumbledore told him.

"Wouldn't think about it Professor," Jean smiled back at him. "However, I don't really know how this magic stuff works, but do you think that there is a wand trick or something that can get me up a few flights of stairs? I doubt that this castle is very friendly towards men with a pair of wheels," Jean said glancing down at his repaired chair. Dumbledore nodded and whipped his wand around. The wheels on Havoc's chair glowed a faint white for a few seconds and then vanished. Nothing seemed to change, but that didn't seem to faze Jean in the least bit.

"There, I think that will do your chair some justice," he said. "Now, why don't we go get some lunch? I think the elves made a chicken platter for everyone." Dumbledore eagerly left the conversation for some warm food in the Great Hall. Jean unlocked the wheels of his chair and scooted on in with Edward. The entire hall was filled to the brim with chattering students. Most of them were gossiping about the latest news of the Tournament which so happened to be Jean. Some awkward and curious stares came from the students as the two of them walked towards the High Table for their meal. Jean however didn't seem faltered by this. It was as if he didn't care about the gossip that they were throwing out or he just didn't hear it. He just rolled his chair happily down the aisle to the table. He parked his chair on the corner of the table while Edward took his seat near Severus and Hagrid who were both enjoying the wonderful meal that was laid out for them. Edward scooted a plate of chicken a little closer to Havoc so that he could reach it. Severus kept glancing at Havoc over the top of the book he was reading.

"So, I hear that you are the new judge," he muttered into the batter pages of the text book. Jean looked up from the plate he was about to dive into and looked at the black haired man.

"You heard right. The Major gets in trouble and he calls me to bail him out," he joked.

"Hey! Who fixed your wheel chair? I could have left you on the floor!" Edward retorted which made Jean laugh. Severus rolled his eyes and took a sip of his drink.

"What profession do you do?" Hagrid asked the man. They didn't really get to talk a lot on the flight over to Hogwarts since the roar of the engine and all.

"Oh, I used to be the Officer in Charge in Central. I got to file paper work and stuff, it paid well, but then this happened," he said motioning to his legs, "and now I run a general store in the eastern regions. Havoc's General store. I think that you're the one who picked up that giant pile of text books right?" he asked Severus. The potions master nodded in response. "Well, Edward here basically paid the stores bills for the rest of the year with that order," he chuckled.

"Jean, I almost forgot, who did you get to pick up the store while you are up here?" Edward asked him as he took a big sip of water to clear his mouth. Havoc waved him off carelessly.

"Don't worry Edward, the phone lines are still open. I asked one of my trustworthy friends to pick up the work while I left. She used to be an old shooting partner of the Lieutenant's. You can talk to her over the phone if you like," Jean reassured him.

"Shouldn't you think of getting yourself a girl before you start giving their phone numbers away like that?" Edward teased him.

"It's not my fault everything bad happens to me! It's the damn Colonel!" he complained tucking his head into his arms shamefully. Havoc was forced to leave not one, but two of his girlfriends because of the Colonel's mishaps in the military. He had to leave one while transferring to Central and then another when it turned out to be Lust the Homunculus and tried to kill them. Ladies were a weak point for him. The table laughed at some of the jokes the new member made and they ate their lunch happily. When the bell rang for classes, Havoc seemed to be already out the door ready to explore the castle. Edward however needed to change for this strange meeting he had to go to later that evening. Just as Edward was about to leave the table, Severus grabbed his arm and held him back for a moment.

"When you have time, come down to my classroom and pick up some more Draughts that I made for you. You are running low," he stated quietly. Edward nodded at him and rushed off down the hall way where Jean was already running up the staircase with ease of his chair. Several students were giving him a few play full pushes making his wheel chair go faster down the corridors. It made it even harder for Edward to catch up with him.


	13. Wand and the Wandless

**YAY! I got this baby done a lot faster than I thought I would….. wow….. Okay. So here is my update. I hope you all enjoy it. Thank you for all the reviews that you made already I am glad that you like it so far. I probably won't be updating as fast as this one but maybe… just maybe…. I might get another chapter up by the weekend or Monday. Hope you like it!**

CHAPTER 13

Wands and the Wandless

Havoc busted out laughing at the sight of Edward in his blue military uniform. Jean had never actually seen him officially in his blue outfit and the fact that he looked absolutely miserable made it even better. He would have been rolling n the floor if his legs allowed him. Edward walked in and set his set of notebooks on his school desk giving Jean a few annoyed glances. He was nearly crying every time he looked at him.

"Come on Havoc, I have a class to teach," Edward growled at him. Jean wheeled his chair to the side so that Edward could take the front of the class.

"It isn't my fault!" he choked out trying his hardest not to glance at the blue uniformed alchemist. "I never thought you would actually ever wear it!" Edward turned a bit red and tossed his jacket at him. It landed over his head muffling the laughter a bit.

"Alright class, if you wanted to know who the laughing baboon is over here, this is Jean Havoc the new tournament judge." Jean took the jacket off of his head and waved politely at the crowd of students. They waved awkwardly at him. "Now since you all were introduced open your books to-"

"Hey! Where are you from?" one of the first years asked.

"Same place as your teacher, Amestris," Jean answered. He unfortunately glanced over at Edward and stifled a laugh from seeing him.

"I fixed your chair, I can break it too," Edward hissed threatening at him, but it just made his chuckle even louder. Edward rolled his eyes at his prior coworker and waited impatiently for him to finish. "Are you done yet?" he asked him.

"Yeah, yeah, I think I am good," Jean sighed still smiling a bit.

"Why are you in that chair?" a little hufflepuff boy asked quickly. Havoc turned to the first year a little shocked by his brash question. Edward let out an exasperated sigh and massaged his face. Why did the students get so nosy when he had visitors.

"Well, I can't walk. My legs are paralyzed so I need a chair to get around," Jean replied casually. The class started to whisper a bit back and forth.

"How did they get like that?" another one asked him. Edward quickly pulled out a lesson one Alchemy book and flipped it open.

"Alright, let's get onto carbon bonding shall we?" he announced to the class. They all groaned and whined in complaint as they slowly started to pull out their books and homework. However, Jean took the book out of Edward's hand and closed it.

"It is alright Major, no problem. They can ask a couple questions," he said smiling faintly. He looked a little uncomfortable with the question, but wasn't going to deny them an answer. Edward nodded to him and took a step back so that Jean could take the front of the classroom. He cleared his throat and got the students attention.

"My legs are like this because I was in an accident while I was… patrolling the military barracks. If you know anything about the human anatomy you would know that the spinal cord is the main highway of the nervous system from the brain," he said wheeling his chair over to the little kid who asked the question. He motioned for him to stand up for the class. "I was severed by two blades, here and here," he said poking the kid in the stomach. The student squirmed a bit as he did so.

"The nerves can no longer reach my feet and now I can't walk," he said. The students gasped a bit as he rolled his chair back to the front. Edward was a little surprised by the explanation he gave. Havoc smiled while some of the students started to talk about theories of what the accident really was. He couldn't give away any specific information or else he would blow the cover of the actual mission he was on at the time, but it was enough to entertain the first years. Jean leaned a bit towards Edward.

"Thought I might at least make it the least bit science based since this is a classroom," he whispered. Edward nodded his head as they let the class settle down a bit, however, several more hands rose in the air. Edward sighed and pointed blindly at one.

"Is it hard to move around in the wheel chair?" one of them asked. Jean grew a big gallivanting smile on his face.

….

Edward walked down towards the dungeons after the last class. He had the rest of the day free so it was perfect time to pick up the potions Severus wanted to give him. Havoc wanted to stay in the classroom for a bit and answer a couple of questions that the little first years had. Dennis Creevy was really excited about the new visitor and was probably one of the students with the most to ask. Jean didn't seemed bothered by him at all though. The rest of the first year class was spent taking turns on his wheel chair and spinning it about the classroom. Edward had a feeling that he wouldn't get much done for the rest of the week. The students were all waiting outside of the classroom. Slytherin and Gryffindor robes cloaked the dark corridor. Edward noticed that some of them were wearing the confiscated pins with the mudslinging sayings on them. They were only lucky that none of them were wearing any of the Edward ones. All of a sudden there was a few shouts coming from the crowd. Two flashes of light flew across the hallway and nearly hit Edward in the head. Gregory and Hermione went reeling to the ground as they were hit. The shouts grew louder as Harry tried to help his ill-fated friend as Ron took the more brutal approach. Edward ran forward and parted the crowd.

"Get off each other! Get off!" he scolded the students as he tried to rip Ron off of Malfoy who supposedly casted the spell. "What is going on here?" he ordered them. The rest of the students backed away from the angry professor and Edward caught the sight of billowing black robes.

"I think that I would like to know the same thing," Snape hissed crudely. He glared at Potter while Edward did the same to Malfoy. "Spill it," he ordered.

"He attacked me sir," Draco said pathetically. "And he hit Goyle instead! Look!" Edward took a look at the pitiful boy. He was whimpering on the floor with large boils growing out of his face. It was so distorted that Edward wondered if he was ever human to begin with.

"Vincent, take him to the hospital wing," Severus snapped. The two Slytherins jolted down the passageway towards the upper floors. "Everyone else in to the classroom, make it snappy."

"Wait hold on!" Ron cried ripping himself out of Edward's grip. "Draco got Hermione too! Look!" Everyone turned their heads towards Granger who was cowering trying to cover up her mouth which was sprouting rather long and ever-growing teeth. Severus examined her a bit and huffed.

"I see no difference," he muttered. Tears started to pour from her eyes. Edward snapped his fingers at Ron and silently ordered him to take her to the ward as well. The two Gryffindors bolted up the corridor as well. Edward glared at Severus as the class filed into the classroom and took their proper seats.

"That was the cruelest thing you could have possibly done," he scolded him as he stood near the front desk. The students took out their cauldrons and opened their textbooks. Severus just gave a simple shrug.

"I got your draughts right here. You haven't been having any nightmares have you?" he asked completely ignoring the past events. He dug around underneath his desk and pulled out a small case of bottles.

"Severus!" Edward scolded him pushing the potions off to the side. "You shouldn't be doing that to your students! This is the second time you made Granger cry!"

"It isn't my fault that teenagers have unstable emotions," he replied.

"That isn't the p-" Edward started but then there was an interrupting knock on the door. Everyone turned around to see the little blond haired third year Colin Creevey standing in the doorway. He was beaming at Harry all the way to the Potion master's desk. Severus didn't seem too thrilled to see him.

"Yes?" Snape snipped at him.

"Uh-Uh, sir, please let me take Harry Potter and the Professor upstairs," he said fingering the camera that was hung around his neck. Severus glared at him as if he just spoke blasphemy.

"What for?" he said curtly. Colin went a little pink.

"Uh… Some Tournament stuff. I think there will be pictures or something. All champions must go as well as the judges," he shook. Severus glanced over to Harry and then down at Edward. The alchemist was glaring at him furiously. He was still angry at him.

"Fine," sighed Severus painfully. "Potter take your things and get out of my class. Edward, I will see you at dinner. Don't forget your draughts," he said. Edward picked up the box a bit roughly.

"You bet you will see me at dinner. We are not finished yet!" he argued. He half marched and half shoved Harry and Colin through the door of the dungeons. He was furious. The walk to the abandoned classroom was met with fuming silence. Edward didn't know it but he was silently cursing under his breath. The click of the door however, brought Edward back to reality and he quickly shut up his fury back inside of him. Colin opened the door to reveal the classroom absolutely empty. The desks were pushed off to the side and the champions all sat in the center. Krum was standing off by himself as Fleur and Cedric talked to each other mildly. Ludo and a strangely dressed woman were standing away from them all and were conversing quietly. As soon as the door clicked behind them however, Ludo was ontop of them like a gnat.

"Here they are! Champions number four and five! How pleasant! Come in come in, everything is almost ready for the wand weighing!" Harry looked just as confused as Edward was on the whole ceremony. No one really explained what it really was. Ludo pushed them eagerly into two chairs. He caught the looks on their faces and gave out a bellowing chuckle. "Oh! Don't worry. The wand weighing ceremony is just to make sure your wands are in working condition! Everything will be just fine. Rita Skeeter here is doing a small portion for the Daily Prophet." Hearing her name made Edward's blood boil even more than it already was. That was the woman who bashed the Weasley name with that article in the paper. She didn't even get his name right. Edward was sure that anyone who was being interviewed with her was in big trouble.

"You don't mind if I get a head start? I don't want to waste anyone's prescious time with the interviews," she smiled sweetly. Ludo chuckled a bit and quickly agreed. She latched her long painted fingernails around Harry's shoulder and pulled him into a separate closed room. Edward was sure that it was a broom closet. He looked over to the other champions and they were just as clueless to what happened. It was only a few minutes before the Headmasters entered along with a stranger. Edward didn't see Havoc anywhere with them. They chatted for a few seconds with Ludo and Albus ran over to the closet and hurried Harry and Riza out of it. Riza looked rather pleased with herself as a magical floating quill kept squiggling behind her, but Harry looked rather annoyed and confused. He stumbled out of the closet and quickly took his seat next to Edward. Each of the headmasters stood behind their champion and looked down with pride to each individual. Karkaroff sneered at him

"Looks like your trustworthy judge is late," he muttered coolly. Edward shot a glare at him, but all of a sudden the door flung open. Dennis Creevey was running with Havoc's chair as the ex-second lieutenant was holding the phone receiver rather excitedly. Edward was slightly glad that it didn't need to be plugged in to work thanks to magic or else he was sure Jean would have ripped it out of the wall just for him. They screeched to a stop right in front of Edward's chair disturbing almost everyone in the room.

"EDWARD! EDWARD!" he shouted excitedly waving the phone in his face. "Edward th-the line i-it's for you." Edward looked at him a little startled while the officials circled around him.

"Mr. Havoc, I think that this could surely wait," Madam Maxime said defensively, but he was shaking his head as if he was tired from running his trip down here. Dennis was collapsed in the corner where his brother was looking after him trying to give him air.

"No, Edward you need to answer this now. We found him, Edward. We found him," he panted He shoved the phone into Edward's stomach forcefully. Edward couldn't breath as he looked at the ear piece. He stood up slowly and looked at everyone else. They were rather impatient with him. He excused himself quietly from the room and stood outside in the hallway. This the rotary dial receiver in his one hand, he pressed the phone to his ear with the other.

"H-hello?" he said shakily. There was a tiny gasp from the other line at the sound of his voice.

"B-B-Brother!" Alphonse's voice rang out in Amestrian. Edward took in a tiny gasp as he tried to restrain his happiness. He didn't know how long he missed his brother's voice until he heard it. "Brother are you alright? What happened? I heard you were hurt! Edward-"

"ALPHONSE! DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS?" he screamed into the phone. He felt a few stray tears fall down his face. He had no clue where they came from. "I thought I lost you! Something bad could have happened! I didn't know where you were. Almost four months! I was scared I wasn't going to hear from you! You got Neville scared too! You need t talk to him!"

"B-Brother, not so loud! You sound like Winry!" Al cried.

"Alphonse, I missed you," Edward said into the phone. There was a long pause before anything came out of his brother.

"I missed you too, Edward," he replied quietly. "I am at Rose's house right now. I have been helping with the reconstruction in Liore and everything. They need some help down here. I also met Dad. H-he has something important to tell you."

"Dad? Alphonse you know I-"

"Edward, please just listen to him. He is headed north to find you. Please just let him explain. It is important," Alphonse begged him. Edward let out an exasperated sigh.

"Fine," he muttered, "But I still plan on giving him a piece of my mind afterwards."

"Edward!" he scolded him.

"Alphonse, make sure you stay safe down there. I don't want anything to happen to you," he told him.

"Don't worry Brother, it is you who I am worried about. I head that the second lieutenant was up there. Edward what have you been doing?" Edward rubbed the back of his neck tiredly and gave a sigh.

"Nothing good," he mumbled. "I accidentally got entered into a tournament of some kind. It doesn't look good. There is actually some sort of ceremony going on right now so we might be cut sh-" Ludo poked his head out of the door and into the hallway.

"Mr. Elric, we are about to begin. Might you put it on hold for a minute?" he asked eagerly. Edward motioned for him to wait a moment and turned back to the phone.

"Alphonse, I am going to have to call you later, but for now just stay on hold. I think you have a couple words to say to Neville before you leave. I will have someone run the phone to him. You made him worry," Edward said to him.

"Sorry brother," Alphonse apologized.

"It's alright Al, I will talk to you later," Edward finished. He put the phone on hold and gathered his composure together for everyone. He marched silently back into the room where the other champions and judges were waiting for him. Rita was waiting suspiciously close to the door, her quick quotes quill scribbling away. He knew that she couldn't understand him since he was talking to his brother in his native language, but then again he wasn't sure. He hoped that nothing got through to her. He handed the phone off to the tired Dennis and told him to go deliver it to Neville Longbottom. He was still tired from the run down there, but happily accepted the errand. He ran out of the room to try and to make the alchemist proud. Ludo led him back to his chair and he sat down next to Jean's wheel chair. Everyone was strangely silent. Dumbledore cleared his throat and motioned to the strange old man at the table in the far corner.

"So, why don't we begin? This is Mr. Ollivander. He will be judging your wands for this evening to ensure that they are in proper working condition." Edward took a glance at the man. He had was rather elderly with crazy white hair and a knowledgeable look in his eye. Edward was slightly frightened by him. He seemed a little off his rocker. Fleur was called over for the first go at the weighing ceremony. He held the tiny stick delicately between his fingers and twirled it around. He seemed to be studying it carefully as he did so.

"Nine and a half inches, rose wood, and…. Oh my, Veela hair? Very tempermental, but it must suit you wonderfully," he smiled at her.

"Yes, the hair is from my grandmother," she said distantly. Mr. Olivander nodded and then recited a random spell. A wonderful orchid flew out of the tip of the wand. Jean seemed rather entertained by the whole thing as he watched the flower grow and bloom. Magic was ne thing Jean enjoyed but would rather not take a part in. He viewed it the same as alchemy. Ollivander smiled happily and then handed it back to her.

"Very good, very good. Perfect condition!" he told her. She happily went back to her seat where Madam Maxime was applauding her.

Diggory was next with a finely polished Twelve and a quarter inch ashe with unicorn tail. It sent Mr. Ollivander into a long and boring backstory on how he got the hair to begin with. Edward didn't know what hair of Veela or Unicorn had to do with any magic at all, but it seemed to be making all of the wands. After hearing the compliments of how well polished the instrument was, he spotted Harry try to spruce his own magic stick up a bit. He attempted to rub the nasty finger prints off with a bunch of his robes but it only caused it to back fire and draw many unwanted glares. Edward looked down at his own wand but saw that he had none. He didn't know what he was supposed to do at the ceremony without one. What were they going to weigh?

Krum was after the proud Hufflepuff with a thick ten and a quarter inch hornbeam and dragon heartstring wand. It seemed a little distasteful to Mr. Ollivander as he muttered something about the style. Gregorovitch was another wands maker and obviously had a different design than what Ollivander made an preferred. Krum however didn't seem to mind it at all. He allowed the old wizard to shoot some birds out of the thing. It was in working condition for the tournament as labeled.

Harry was next before Edward and was looking quite nervous around Ollivander. The old wizard took his wand and announced it to be eleven inches holly with a phoenix feather for a core. He twirled the wand around studying it for almost an age. He was constantly muttering to himself word like, "yes, yes," or "I remember you," to the wand as if it was a person. Edward guess that to every individual wizard, their wand might have actually felt like a person to them. The never seemed to leave them behind where ever they went. After a very long while, Ollivander swished the wand and a strong fountain of wine spurted out of the top. He clapped his hands together joyously and announced it in working condition. Harry gratefully took his wand back from the old wizard and raced back to his seat.

"Edward Elric," the elderly man said calmly. Jean gave him a little shove in the back to get him moving, and Edward took a seat across from the wild eyed old man. He was holding his hand out expectedly for something but Edward didn't know what for. After a few long moments Ollivander snapped his fingers to bring him out of his confused trance.

"Wand please," he said waiting for Edward to magically reveal a sorcerer's stick from the pockets of his uniform.

"I-I don't have one," Edward told the man who was obviously not informed about his status. He looked rather baffled at the words that he just said.

"You don't have one?" he stuttered. Edward nodded his head solemnly. Ollivander was completely confused as he started to mutter words under his breath. Edward could almost hear the gears in his brain working for a solution of some sort. "What, might I ask, are you going to compete with?" he wondered. Edward could hear some mildly harsh comments come from Karkaroff while the quick quotes quill was scribbling furiously behind him.

"Alchemy," he answered. Ollivander nodded his heads thinking the situation out in his head.

"Right, right," he muttered. "Is there any tool you would use to perform this?" he asked curiously. Edward shook his head.

"I just clap my hands or draw a circle."

"Very interesting, well I am sorry lad but there is nothing I can really do for you this evening," Ollivander noted standing up from his seat. "Unless you have something that, if broken, might endanger your chances of performing your skill, I can't help you." Edward looked timidly down at his hands. He remembered the many instances he couldn't fight or use alchemy because they broke. His life was almost destroyed every time. Edward would have told him about it, but he wondered if the man knew anything about mechanics or anything. Ollivander caught his hesitation and sat back down.

"Is there something you wish to show me?" he asked politely. Edward took a glance at Dumbledore and Jean. They nodded their heads as if giving him permission.

"Do you know anything about mechanics?" Edward asked him quietly. He looked a little muddled by the question but scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"I mingle here and there," he replied. Edward nodded his head and slowly took off his military jacket. The wizards all seemed to be rather disoriented at what he was doing. There definitely wasn't a wand there for Ollivander to weigh. He unbuttoned his shirt and slid his right arm out to show the wandmaker. Everyone gasped and Rita's quill wrote faster and faster on the piece of paper. Loud whispers started to fill the room as the champions as well as the headmasters were arguing back and forth. Ludo eventually had to quiet everybody down and order them to stop talking while Ollivander inspected the piece of automail.

"If this thing gives way, I am toast," Edward commented. The wizard started to hum to himself as he eyed the gleaming metal.

"Very, very interesting," he sang. It almost reminded Edward of the way Winry got over her automail work. "Do you think, that I can inspect if properly if you don't mind? I have heard about these before and have dabbled in it a bit. I need to know how they might affect the use of wands if I ever get someone wearing one. Do you mind?" he asked. Edward looked at his port hesitantly. He really didn't want to feel the electric shock of nerves disconnecting but it seemed that the man absolutely wanted to make sure it was in working condition. With a zap, he flinched a bit as his arm popped out of its joints. The non-Hogwarts champions cringed at the sight of him taking his arm off. Ollivander held the rather heavy piece of machinery in his hands and studied it. He asked him random questions like how often he polishes it as well as the pain it gives him in bad weather. After a little while, he handed it back to Edward to place back into his port.

"I think that it is due in for some major oiling. You haven't been keeping up on your maintenance have you?" Ollivander said to him with a twinkle in his eye. Edward shook his head as he set his arm down on the table. He really didn't want to reconnect it with everyone looking at him. It would take nearly fifteen minutes for his body to adjust anyways. Mr. Ollivander eyed him a bit. "There isn't anything else you want me to examine is there?" he asked suspiciously. Edward looked down at his leg and sighed.

"Might as well," he muttered. He bent down and unlaced his combat boots. There was another round of gasps as he leaned back in his chair and propped his left leg up on the desk. Mr. Ollivander looked rather excited with the new project he got to work on. After asking him a couple more questions, Ollivander placed his foot back on the desk where Edward then dragged it to the floor.

"You seem to have some dirt stuck underneath the plating, you might want to clean that out a little better. It might improve your movement. Oil it as well. Other than that, both are in perfect working order," Ollivander smiled. He politely held out his left hand of him to shake and Edward took it. He was glad that one wizard knew how to keep him in working order. As the Wizard left the stand, all of the attention drew towards Dumbledore. Edward quietly shoved the prosthetic back into his port while they were all distracted. He flinched a little but released all of his pain filled cries in a silent huff of air. His arm tingled a bit as he let it adjust. He attached his leg back on as well letting out another hiss of hurt. A button up shirt was definitely difficult to put on one handed but he eventually got his uniform back on and rolled down his pant leg.

"No! Dumbledore we can't leave yet! We need pictures and interviews!" Rita complained to the head master.

"Yes! Pictures! The Daily Prophet can't do without a good picture of everyone!" Ludo agreed. It took a while, but they eventually managed to get a group photograph of everyone. It was hard to get Madam Maxime's large structure into the picture so she was forced to sit along with Jean and Edward who was still letting his ports adjust a bit. Rita forced him to wear his uniform hat in the picture even though it wasn't proper to wear it indoors. Delacour stood behind them and the men and other wizards lined up behind her. Viktor skulked a little bit as the picture was getting taken as if he was annoyed with it. Karkaroff was the opposite and adorned the picture with a huge handsome smile making his goatee look even more curly than usual. When the picture was taken, Rita took individual photos as well for the newspaper. Edward kept blinking whenever the flash would go off so she tried to catch him off guard with the camera so that the magically moving photograph would look more like a profile shot instead of a blinded mess. It took so long for all of the pictures to be taken, by the end his limbs were full adjusted and stretched out. He did notice that Ollivander was right about some dirt being stuck in his leg plates. He would have to make sure to clean that better this evening. Harry was the only champion who was able to leave the classroom by law of Rita Skeeter. She held everyone else hostage in the classroom until the interviews were over. Edward found that it was rather odd that she only took five seconds to interview the other champions rather than the full half hour she gave Harry. Pretty soon however, it was only him and her in the broom cupboard. Her smile looked like it could cut someone with the blood red lipstick and her matching fingernails didn't do it justice either. The quick quotes quill was rapidly scribbling down paragraphs on the parchment even though she didn't say one word. All she was doing was examining him for a rather long period of time.

"A muggle with a seemingly reputable military status judging by his clothes. Two prosthetic limbs and skilled in the arts of alchemy," she stated the basic information rather drastically. Edward looked at the quill. It would burn a hole through the parchment at any second. Rita dragged his eyes back towards her as she examined him a little more. "Golden eyes, blonde hair, add that to the list won't you?" she asked the quill. It definitely wrote more than that on the parchment. Edward swatted her hand away from his face and rubbed his sore cheek. She rolled her eyes as the quill still scrawled across the page.

"What was it that made you enter the tournament? Was it the fame? The money? What made a muggle like you compete for the most brutal tournament in the history of the Wizarding world?" she asked him. The quill finally took a pause as if listening to what he was about to say.

"I didn't enter, and didn't want to. Things just happened and I got stuck in the middle," he stated flatly. She her smile crooked a bit as she began writing again.

"Very interesting," she muttered obviously not believing him one bit. "Who was it on the phone earlier? You seemed rather distressed over it. An important call like that doesn't come every day. Might I say that is also a rather clever use of muggle implements," she said.

"I think that was a private phone call. I would rather not share it with you," he retorted. She had no business bugging him about his personal matters.

"Oh, I get what you are saying," she said winking suggestively at him. Edward was horrified at the ideas she was pulling through. "So, who is she might I ask? Is she excited or scared that her beloved man is heading into a deadly competition? Does she even know that the magical world exists? Your partner said that she was missing for a long time and they finally found her? What happened between you two?" Edward pinched the bridge of his nose as he listened to the quill scribbling down all of the wrong information. This was terrible.

"The person on the phone wasn't a girl, he was my younger brother. He went missing for a couple months after an arctic hiking trip. They finally found him," he replied tensely. Rita looked absolutely shocked and the quill began to scribble out half a page of notes and begin again.

"Was your mother frightened at all over this tragic event? How about over your drastic days as champion?" she said completely ignoring him.

"She's dead," he answered stiffly. For a reporter, she is asking all of the wrong questions. The quill scratched out another sentence.

"How about your father?" she asked.

"Gone, left us a while ago," he answered. She was getting a little frustrated now. Her quill was waiting as if ready to strike whenever the next word was said.

"How did you lose your limbs? And do you think that it might alter your chances at winning the cup?"

"Can I go now or are you just going to waste my time digging into my personal life? I won't answer any more questions about it," he growled at her. She glanced down at her parchment which was almost filled to the top. She smiled back at him.

"Why did you join the military at such a young age? Was it for your brother? How did everyone feel about it?" she asked him finally. Edward glared at her.

"Bye," he said curtly and shoved past her and out the door. The pen was still scribbling furiously as Rita raced after him shouting a few more questions he ultimately ignored. He picked up his case of potions Severus gave him and exited the classroom as fast as he could. Rita gave up the chase only when he entered his chambers to put his things away. The ceremony was a nightmare.

….

Edward snuck out of his chambers through the window. He could didn't want to attempt the door in case the reporter was still out there. By transmuting a set of crooked steps, he made his way down to the grounds. He was going to be late for dinner if he didn't hurry. Edward walked past a couple windows on his way down. Some of the teachers and students didn't even realize he was there. He caught sight of McGonagall giving Fred and George a small lecture. They caught sight of him but didn't dare wave. Minerva was still going all out. Edward wondered what in the world they did that time. He passed a small window that connected to the second floor staircase of the Dark Arts tower. It was tiny and seemed to be crammed in just before the circular tower met the flat surface of the castle. Edward took a peek inside and saw Neville sitting underneath the crook of the stairs with the telephone still up to his ear. Edward wondered how long he was talking to him. He rapped his knuckles on the window to get his attention. The Gryffindor was a little startle at the sudden noise that he bonked his head off of the top of the stairs. Cradling his hurt head he walked over and opened the window. Edward slid in effortlessly.

"Professor, what are you doing?" he asked him as Edward clapped his hands and deteriorated the steps he made. Neville had to hold the back of his uniform in order to keep him from falling out the window. He had to lean out pretty far to make contact with the stone steps.

"I am running from the press," he said closing the glass window after erasing the evidence. He looked the boy over and saw that he was still clutching the phone. "I think you should probably give Alphonse a break for a moment, you can call him back later." Neville's pouted a bit as he handed the phone over to him. Edward took it from him and said good bye to his brother before hanging up. He gave Neville a sincere pat on the back. "Come on, let's get dinner before the Skeeter woman figures out I left," he told him. The two of the snuck down to the great hall. Edward made sure to check around all corners before entering the corridors incase the reporter was there. Neville didn't seem to know what he was doing, but went along with it anyways. Though it took longer than it had to, both of them eventually made it down to dinner. Neville scooted off to his seat with the Gryffindors and Edward jogged over to the High table. Karkaroff and Severus were in a rather heated argument with each other. It wasn't loud enough to alert the entire hall about it, but it sure made the rest of the teachers stay to the other side of the table. Hagrid had abandoned his regular seat and chose to squeeze in by Aurora and Minerva. The bench however didn't seem to agree with his choice that well. Jean was the only one on that side of the table. He parked his wheel chair at the end and were watching the two teachers go at it.

"I can't believe it! That bloody muggle is competing without any bloody limbs! Is everyone in their dirty country crippled or something? Severus how can you stand to sit next to them every day! How can you allow them to stay in the school at all! This wouldn't do in Durmstrang!" Igor stated haughtly. He was stabbing his steak repeatedly with his knife. It was so cut up, a blender couldn't have done a better job.

"This isn't Durmstrang, Igor. It would be wise for you to keep your opinions to yourself. Things are run differently here and if you still want to see the support for your champion like it has been for the past few weeks, you might want to shut your mouth. Hogwarts might not like to see the judge of the famous Viktor Krum bashing and insulting not just the two muggles here, but all of the muggle borns as well," Severus scolded him. Karkaroff looked like he had just received the ultimate insult. He gave a huff and stabbed his meat another time.

"How can you even be defending them? You were like me once. Has your mind seriously twisted itself so far that you can't see the disease that plagues us? It was unbearable before but now it has gone too far! This should have gone up with the ministry! They should have corrected this!"

"Igor, I was, but now I am not. The ministry has already corrected the matter and they chose for Mr. Elric to stay. So please do us all an honour and just deal with it silently for the rest of the evening? You are disturbing the rest of the faculty," Severus replied coolly. Karkaroff looked around and realized that the faculty had all moved away from him. He caught sight of Edward and Jean waiting patiently across the table and his eyes narrowed angrily. Severus took a bite of his plate of dinner and returned to eating rather than arguing with the xenophobic wizard any longer. Edward watched as Karkaroff took his plate and sat at the back table away from the other teachers. He felt kind of bad that he was always alone, but then again he was the one who called him a pathetic, worthless, crippled disease. Severus didn't say anything to Edward at all, he just kept eating silently. Some of the other teachers started to spread out seeing that the argument was over. Minerva and Aurora were glad to be able to spread out a little farther from Hagrid who was nearly squishing them to death. Edward played with his food a little bit but didn't really bite into it like everyone else was.

"Severus," Edward finally said stiffly breaking the silence. The man didn't look up at him. He just focused in on his delicious dinner. "Severus," he said firmly again. "Thank you." The Potions master nodded to him and then they both went on eating quietly. Edward was still a bit mad at the man for how he treated Hermione in class. It was cruel and uncalled for, but then he stood up for him against Igor. It didn't atone for what he did in class that day, but Edward really didn't want to scold the man after he told the man off like that. So, they just ate in silence. Jean was either respecting their silence by not interrupting, or he just didn't know what was going on and didn't bother to budge in. Either way, the entire Hall was a bit quieter that evening.


	14. Like Father Like Son

**Got this up! Okay, definitely last post for this week! I will update by next weekend though! Thankyou for all of the wonderful reviews! I am glad that you all liked it! **

CHAPTER 14

Like Father Like Son

Edward bolted awake from another heart stammering night mare. This definitely wasn't right. His eyes took a while to adjust to his own dim bedroom lighting as he tried to catch his breath. His lungs were starving for air and he just didn't seem to get enough in. He put his hands on top of his head to try and to get his thorax to open up a bit and calm himself down. Severus was right, something was happening to him, but he just didn't know what. Edward made sure to take the fresh Draught that Severus had supplied him with but it still didn't work. It wasn't like the nightmares were a daily occurrence but they happened when they shouldn't. That was what really scared him. As his body calmed down a bit, Edward looked around his room it was exactly how he left it, except for the fact that he was sleeping on his desk chair instead of his bed. He knew that hadn't happened. It was kind of a relief knowing that Havoc's chambers had been adjusted a few days ago and that he was sleeping comfortably a few floors down. He didn't want Jean to panic over him just because of what happened the night before, however it was definitely something that Severus needed to know. He quickly got his black clothes on and wrapped his coat around him before heading downstairs for some breakfast.

Jean was downstairs in the Entrance hall picking up races with some of the students. He would race them to the stairs and back to see who would win. The runner would always beat him because they were always quicker on the turn, but Edward knew that if it was a straight away, wheel chairs could go pretty fast. A couple of the first years waved him over to come race them, but he waved them down. He had some business to take care of. Everyone was reading a copy of the Daily Prophet when Edward walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. They were gossiping back and forth about it rather hushed. Harry and the other champions looked angry as they ate their eggs with a folded newspaper tucked under their arms or tossed carelessly aside. Severus was in his usual seat along with Alastor. They were both enjoying a serving of oatmeal when Edward approached them. The potions master was engaged merrily in a rather drastic novel while Moody enjoyed his favorite pastime of spying on people with his electric blue eye. He looked rather shiny this morning compared to the last couple of days where he was fidgety and cranky all the time. But Moody wasn't a very static person so Edward really didn't try to keep tabs with him.

"Ooo, wow, that girl is letting him go pretty hard," Moody chuckled under his breath as his eye was directed to one of the Slytherin tables where a girl was quarreling with her newly announced Ex boyfriend. Edward rolled his eyes at the crazy man and tapped Severus on the elbow. He didn't seem fazed by it at all.

"Severus, I need to talk with you about something," he said. The man just nodded his head too caught up in his book to care. Moody slammed something down on the table in front of him. Edward looked down and saw that it was the new Daily Prophet.

"I think you ought to read that," he said still keeping an eye on the student tables to pick up on anything more. "Damn, that kid got a howler," he muttered under his breath. Edward pushed the paper off to the side a bit.

"Not now Moody," Edward told him. He turned to Severus and poked him in elbow again. The man shifted a bit but didn't seem like he even wanted to talk at all. Alastor picked up the newspaper and now opened it to the middle page. He shoved it into Edward's face.

"Read up gossip girl, it is about you laddie," he taunted him. Edward pushed the paper out of his face and glared at the senile old man.

"I can read it later," he scolded him.

"You can read it now while the master is drinking up his own novel. It was very interesting what that Rita Skeeter wrote about you," he hummed. Hearing the reporter's name perked Edward's ears up. He had the dread filled pit in his stomach that told him to just ignore him and burn the newspaper, but he already knew that it wouldn't stop everyone else from reading it. He didn't have to glance at it to know that if an article was written by Rita Skeeter, it was a bestselling blather novel anyone has ever read. He just feared that it might be like what she wrote about Arthur. He opened the thing up to the middle, after an entire section devoted to Harry Potter's life story, and saw the pictures of him at the Weighing ceremony. He looked rather irked from both the pain of his automail joints connecting as well as having to deal with the sound of the Quick Quotes Quill scratching up static in the background.

**LIEUTENANT EDWARD ELRIC**

**THE YOUNG PROTEGY**

_Edward Elric, a rather handsome blond haired golden eyed man, was declared one of the Champions of the Triwizard Tournament. This would have been normalnews if it weren't for one key factor. Mr. Elric is a muggle. With no wand, no sorcery and only a left arm and a right leg this poor helpless muggle needs to prove his worth and fight for his life in the three tasks of the tournament. Though he might be an invalid, Edward Elric isn't out for the count. He is a well-known State Alchemist, a lieutenant for the military, with an ancient art known as Alchemy. This young boy, only of age 11, has fought many bloody and brutal battles just to be with us this year at the Triwizard tournament. Will the contest be just a game to him or another battle field? Support for the young alchemist will be hard to come by as he spends most of his time helping his old friend and mentor, Jane Havoc, who is permamently crippled due to a problem in his legs. Edward says that he feels that it is his duty to aid his injured friend for it fills the holes in his heart remembering the cold and drastic accident that took his own limbs. Since his brother was too young to help him in the accident, he was left alone to aid and provide for himself during the hard times of rehabilitation. He said that no one should have to endure that, so he won't let Jane go through the same torture he lived through._

_Edward grew up a lonely life without the care of his mother or the guide of his father, the well-known scientist Van Hoenheim. His mother died of a terrible disease and left the two Elric brothers with the comforting idea that they would both live comfortable normal lives. They struggled to keep up the image their mother left them with. The only person he ever called family was his younger brother Alfred. He cared and nurtured his younger brother all by himself, eventually having to pick up a job in the military to supply for their needs. However his efforts proved in vain as he lost he treasured brother in a drastic hiking expedition in the arctic of their home country, Amnesia. News of his brother's body was received the very evening of his interview. He was so emotionally distressed that he needed to excuse himself from the room for a couple minutes. However, his tear filled eyes told the whole story of his beloved brother. He said that he would like to try and win the tournament in memory of his belated brother and mother to whom were so dear to him. The winnings might be able to provide proper treatment for his heavy metal prosthetics that are the only support keeping him standing with us today. Edward Elric, the FullIron Alchemist, a muggle, a child soldier, and science prodigy, will be battling his best in a realm of magic he was not prepared for, the Triwizard Tournament. This is a spectacle of the ages._

Edward slowly set the paper down and sat back in his chair. He wanted to laugh and hurdle the article through the window at the same time. It made him sound like a pathetic cry baby. He carefully stood up and tucked the paper underneath his arm. He was going for a walk as an attempt not to hit anything. Moody looked up at him with his goofy smile while Severus was still focused on his book.

"I bet you weren't expecting that, boy," he chuckled. Edward clenched his teeth together to try and to retain some of his composure, but it made his face contort into a grimace.

"I was expecting something, but not that," he hissed through his teeth. Moody laughed a bit and Edward walked away from the table to try and cool his head. Havoc was huffing and puffing as he wheeled his chair into the Great Hall. After all of those races he was quite tired. Edward caught him by one of the student tables and stopped his chair. He waved the newspaper in his face.

"Did you see this?"

"No, but should I?" he asked taking the newspaper from him and opening it up. Edward let out a huff of air, he needed to cool down.

"When Severus gets his head out of his Romance novel, tell him to come see me," he ordered stiffly. Jean gave him a halfhearted salute as he started to skim through the articles that Skita wrote about them. Edward stormed out of the Great Hall in such a fury that he accidentally bumped into Karkaroff. He looked tired and had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. The man just scoffed at him like he was a pile of dirt and shoved him out of the way. When his back was turned stuck out his tongue and mocked him, before continuing on his way. He was having a terrible day.

…

Edward jumped back and forth out of the way of the flying branches of the Whomping Willow. It has been a while since he actually fought with the tree since his teacher was here just a couple months ago. It seemed to be a little upset from the lack of attention and didn't bother to let up half way through their duel. By fighting through the whirling branches, Edward blew off some steam from the article. He wasn't going to throw anything through a window anymore. However, due to the article, Edward did notice that he was getting some pitiful stares along with some mocking glares. It seemed that half of the school's student body believed the article that Rita Skeeter wrote about him and the other half who didn't know what to think thought of him as a whining cry baby. He was getting a couple of comments about the supposed death of his brother. Since most of the students got to know Alphonse last year for a short period of time, they were traumatically moved when they heard about his unkindly death. Edward ducked underneath a swinging branch and tumbled out of the tree's hit radius. It kept swinging as if still trying to reach him but it was in vain. He walked a bit away and sat down in the grass to catch his breath. The tree's branches drooped a bit in disappointment. Edward chuckled a bit as he watched it. No body knew it, but the tree was just a big softie if you got past its territorial issues. Edward heard a couple of footsteps fall behind him and he looked up the bank of the hill. Severus was walking down to meet him.

"Edward, what was it that you wanted?" Severus droned on. Edward slung both his jackets over his shoulder and walked up to meet him.

"Remember what we talked about Halloween night?" Edward asked him. It took Severus a moment but he nodded. "It happened again." Severus took him by the hand and started to drag him towards the castle. He stumbled a bit behind him.

"Come on. I think Albus needs to hear about this," he said. Edward was half dragged all the way into the castle. When they passed the Great hall, some of the Beauxbaton students gasped as they caught sight of his automail arm since he wasn't wearing his jackets. They started to whisper furiously back and forth. Edward had no doubt that they just found false proof for the article. Havoc was talking to Harry at the foot of the stairs.

"Just don't let it get to you," Edward caught Jean say to the boy as he was dragged into the lower levels towards the dungeons. They went down a few flights of steps and Severus pulled him into his small Potions office. He waved his wand and a fire lit in the hearth. The cold stone room instantly grew warmer. Severus threw some powder into the fireplace and stuck his face in.

"Professor, we need you immediately," he said. Edward thought it looked rather funny to talk into the fireplace like that. Once when the message was delivered, Severus started to open up several cupboards on the wall and pull out different solutions. He waved his wand again and a large stone water dish flew out of the closet and landed on a small coffee table in front of where Edward was carelessly shoved into a chair. Only a few minutes after Severus made the call, Dumbledore and McGonagall marched swiftly into the office. Edward shifted a bit nervously as they entered rather dramatically.

"Severus what is this about?" Minerva asked strictly. She must have been having a talk with Dumbledore while he called and tagged along. Severus filled the water dish with a thin solution and tossed a couple of empty bottles aside.

"My potions aren't working. Edward has been having some sort of forced nightmares," Severus noted rather quickly.

"Forced? Severus, do you mean that someone is trying to do this? How do you know?" Minerva asked him looking at the work the potion's master was working on. Severus walked over and shone a tiny light into Edward's eyes. It was bright contrast from the dark room and he had to look away.

"Yes. The draughts I have been giving him aren't enough. Someone is after something, and using him to get it. I thought of this before, but I wasn't sure," he said. Dumbledore stepped forward and studied Edward for a bit. He was still blinking out the light spots from his eyes.

"Are you sure?" he asked. Severus nodded and put one last thing into the water dish.

"I am thinking Legimancy, or the imperius curse. He has been having symptoms of sleep walking along with the nightmares," Severus stated. He pushed the water dish into the center of the table and sat down across from Edward. By now, the alchemist was completely confused. He had no clue what was going on, other than the obvious. What was the water dish for? Albus sat down next to him and pulled out his wand. Edward eyed him cautiously wondering what he was going to do. Albus smiled a bit realizing his concern.

"Edward, we need to figure this out," he smiled. "Will you allow us to read a bit of your memories? It will help us prove if Severus's theories are correct. If they are this might be bigger than we thought. Do you give me your permission?" Edward shifted around a bit. Ron accidentally read his future last year and saw something that he shouldn't. They were repelled from each other instantly. Edward was afraid the same thing might happen again if not worst. Not all memories came without a price. However, he agreed. It was better to get this figured out than to leave it be. "Minerva, may you please step outside for a moment?" Albus asked her. She looked upset that she was being forced to leave from a drastic situation, but obeyed. Once the door closed behind her, Severus pulled out his wand like Albus had.

"Edward, please try to relax, this might feel a bit weird. I promise that whatever we see in this room will not leave it," Severus said as if it would reassure him. Edward let a deep breath out and leaned back in his chair. Severus lifted his wand and pointed it directly at Edward's face.

"Legilimens," he chanted. Edward felt a strange pull as his mind started to shuffle through his memories in rapid fire. He saw the day he got his certification, Lab number five, Briggs mountain, the desert with Ross, Mae's funeral, his father at the cementary. His life flashed before his eyes until it landed on a white mass void. A small skinny skeleton that was unmistakably his brother's sat in the middle of it. Edward remembered when he first saw if after trying to leave Gluttony's stomach. All of a sudden there was a searing flash of pain that rang through his mind and Severus was flung backwards from him as his mind pushed him outwards. The wizard flew backwards with such force he toppled over the back of the small sofa he was sitting on. Edward clutched his head with pain as his memory tried to shake its intrusion away. Dumbledore looked a little disturbed by the reaction. Severus stumbled up from where he was lying on the floor. He was a bit ruffled but nothing seemed to be wrong with him. It took him a while to gather himself and sit back down into the chair.

"E-Edward, what in the world was that?" he asked him. Edward rubbed his temples a bit and moaned to himself. It felt as if a bomb went off in his head.

"Nothing, just don't search through that again," Edward muttered.

"That wasn't nothing, Edward," Albus scolded him.

"Who was the boy?" Severus asked him. Edward massaged his head some more but didn't do anything to answer him. His head hurt too much for that. Dumbledore pulled out a little flask and held it up underneath Edward's nose. His head immediately cleared up a bit even though he still didn't feel happy about it.

"Why don't we try this again?" Dumbledore said politely. Edward nodded his head and sat back in his chair. Severus pulled out his wand and pointed it nervously at him.

"Just don't go searching for anything white, okay?" Edward told them. He felt a pull at his head and images started to scroll past him again. It started from the pain of his automail surgery and skipped over to the death of Nina. It spun through so many memories Edward felt like he was watching a movie of his own life. All of a sudden the images of his mother started to appear. They were soon in the basement and the transmutation circle was already lit. Alphonse smiled at him nervously right before everything turned bad. Edward tried not to watch it again, but he couldn't help it. His memories were completely out of his control. Alphonse started to slowly deteriorate in front of him as his left leg was caught by the spindly arms. Right before Edward was about to enter the gate, his mind was calmly released and he returned to reality. Severus was not thrown back this time, but was sitting calmly in his chair staring at him. Edward knew he was just reviewing what he saw, but it was still a bit disturbing. After a while of torturing silence, Severus shifted in his seat and stood up.

"Now Edward, did that feel any similar to what you experienced last night?" he asked as he paced the room a bit for a break.

"Similar, I guess, but I can't really remember," Edward told him. "My nightmare was different though, it had memories that weren't even mine." Severus and Albus paused a bit and just stared at him.

"Weren't yours?" Dumbledore said curiously. Edward thought it over a bit.

"Well, not really mine, but they never actually happened," he rephrased for them. Dumbledore nodded and scratched his beard for a bit.

"Very interesting," he hummed. "Do you remember these images clearly right?" Edward slowly nodded his head and the headmaster took a glance at the large water dish in front of them. "Edward, I am going to try something. I am going to ask you to picture the image perfectly into your mind. Every single bit of it. This might feel a bit weird, but it must be done." Dumbledore touched the tip of his wand to Edward's temple as he thought about the brutal nightmares he had. He pictured the Lieutenant bloody and beaten, while Roy was fumbling on the ground hurt and sightless, but worst of all, he pictured his brother blown to bits his broken armour motionless; absolutely motionless. As Dumbledore drew his wand away, he felt something long and silky go with it. It felt as if it was being pulled straight from his head. After only a few moments it was gone and he opened his eyes to see a strange silver object dripping off of the end of Dumbledore's wand. He carefully flung it down into the water dish and it melted into the strange solution. The headmaster pulled the dish a little closer towards him and he gazed into it. His body looked as if he was in a trance and wouldn't move. Edward looked to Severus for help but he didn't seem to notice him. After a moment, Dumbledore withdrew and looked up at Edward.

"So none of this happened yet?" he asked him. Edward shook his head.

"No, the Colonel can still see, and against Skeeter's news article, my brother is still alive. It can't be real," Edward reassured them. Severus sat down on the couch and the two wizards thought things over. With them looking and thinking about him like that, he felt like a strange specimen in a laboratory.

"I do believe that your theory was true Severus, this was the act of Legimancy," Albus said grimly.

"But I don't sleepwalk!" Edward argued.

"Yes, but you don't have to. We can't validate it, but someone might also being using the Imperius curse on you as well. You aren't conscious while asleep so you can't fight it," Severus stated. Edward fell back in his seat shocked and empty. Dumbledore got up and sat down next to where Edward was thinking over his entire life. It wasn't hard, it just flashed before him only moments ago.

"Edward," he said, "I do believe that this is Legimancy because the dreams that you were experiencing were not yours. I am afraid that when the minds link through this magic, you might have accidentally been exposed to some Divination causing you to see something from your future self. That was where your nightmare came from. Someo-"

"My future self? My future self! Albus! That can't happen! Wh-wh-what about Al! What about the Colonel? This can't happen it has to be false!" Edward started to panic. Dumbledore tried to calm him down but it wasn't working. Edward had just found out that his brother was alright he didn't want anything to happen to him, especially not that. He didn't want his nightmares to become true. He didn't want Rita's article to become true. Edward got up out of his chair and tried to pace his problems away. Though the walking was preoccupying his body so he wouldn't do anything stupid, his mind was still flooded with terrible ideas of all of the outcomes of his dreams. Edward muttered to himself over and over again in an attempt to relax, but when all you see is your brother's dead armour, it wasn't possible. Edward was having a panick attack. He paced and paced and paced until someone placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Dumbledore look down at him.

"The future, my boy, is not set in stone," he said simply.

"But what if something happens to him? What if I can't-"

"Edward," Severus's dull voice rang out. Edward turned his head towards the teacher. He didn't realize it but his cheeks were a bit wet. Edward quickly dried them off leaving his face flushed red with fear and panic. "He will be alright. This was just a nightmare. Have faith in your brother." Edward quieted down a bit but his limbs felt heavier than they really were. His metal alloy seemed to be made out of lead. He slowly sat down on the floor where he was standing to relieve himself of the pressure, but it didn't seem to help as much as he thought it would. The occupants of the room let him be for a moment while he cleared his head.

"S-Severus," Edward muttered, "I-I didn't j-just have this dream, this year….. I think, it happened once before… last year."

"what do you mean?" he asked. Edward thought over his predicament a little bit more.

"I mean, what if they were already in my head before?" he asked. Severus seemed to blank out a bit with the reality of it all. Albus looked back over to the water dish where his dream was floating.

"That exact one?" the headmaster asked. Edward nodded.

"But I didn't sleep walk or anything. It was just that," Edward stated.

"Oh dear," Dumbledore hummed to himself. "Oh dear."

"Oh dear, what, Albus?" Severus asked. Dumbledore brought the dish over to Severus so that he could look inside of it.

"I am afraid, it isn't just one, but two people," he said. "Think about it, a wizard can only cast one mental degrading spell at a time. Imerpius and Legimancy are terribly hard pieces of magic to perform. They would be impossible to perform together. Edward, I don't think the people who are doing this to you are just using you, I think they want something from you," Albus said. Severus looked up from the dish and then down to where Edward was sitting uncomfortably on the floor. Dumbledore walked back over to the chest of potions and pulled a couple out of them. "I am afraid Edward, that the people who are doing this to you, are the people who put you in the tournament."

….

Edward slowly picked up the phone receiver and dialed Rose's number. The phone rang, and the phone rang, and the phone rang. Edward tapped his foot repeatedly impatiently this was his fifth time calling and it didn't seem to be working. They were probably out helping to rebuild Liore, but he was extremely worried. He needed to talk to Alphonse. He wanted to tell him everything that he found out, but he also didn't. Maybe it was a good thing that the phone wasn't picking up. Telling your little brother that he might or might not die a terrible death was definitely not an early afternoon chat. He just wanted to make sure he was okay. A lot could have happened between the last time he called him. When the phone didn't pick up, Edward dropped it on the table and laid his head down on his desk. He let out a deep breath but his foot was still pounding its heart out on the floor of his classroom. There was a knock on the door and Edward tilted his head to see Severus's head poking in. He was holding a vial of somesort. He had taken a calming potion the other day when he was in the Dungeons with Severus and Albus but it seemed to wear off really fast. Severus was holding another one for him. He walked in and set it down on the desk.

"I think it would be best for you to get some food," Severus told him. "You haven't had anything since then." He picked up the phone and set it back on the receiver. Edward reached for it again, but Severus took it off the table and tucked it underneath his arm. "Drink that, and get some food. You look like a dying Threstral."

"I need to call Al!" Edward panicked but Severus tucked the phone even farther into his arm.

"You will get it back once I see you eat something in the Great hall for lunch. You missed lunch, dinner, and breakfast already. You will not be missing anymore," Severus scolded him. He turned on his heel and marched out of the door. "And Edward, don't try your room phone either. I have that one as well," he hummed as he disappeared into the corridor. Edward groaned to himself. That man and his stupid potions. He picked up the vial and looked at it. He was going to have to take it some point or another.

After a while of glooming in his office, Edward slumped down to the Great Hall for lunch that day. The calming potion pushed some of his past anxieties to the back of his mind, but it definitely didn't lift his mood. He stumbled into the Great Hall to find all of the teachers sitting there eating merrily. The students were enjoying the weekend as well. Edward spotted Harry and Hermione mulling over a letter that Hedwig dropped off for them. Severus was holding both of his telephone sets hostage at the table where he was eating his food silently. Jean was talking happily to Hagrid as he ate a rather large sandwich off of his plate. Edward stormed over to where he was sitting with Hagrid and plopped down. He shoved tons of food onto a plate and started to eat furiously. Severus eyed him, but didn't question his motives.

"So, Edward, are you going on the Hogsmede trip next weekend? I am thinking about stopping by and getting a couple of butter beers. Do you want to joing me?" Hagrid asked merrily. Edward took a large gulp of water to clear his throat.

"Hagrid, I don't have a permission slip, remember? I am underage," Edward muttered diving back into his sandwich. Hagrid looked rather down heartened.

"Can't I sign it?" he asked hopefully, but Edward shook his head.

"Not my legal Guardian." Hagrid pouted a bit that his weekend plans were put down easily like that.

"I would like to go," Havoc offered raising his hand. Everyone ignored him though. Edward looked up at his big friend who went quiet for a moment, which he never does. "Oh, Hagrid, I am sorry," Edward apologized. "I really want to go to Hogsmede to try some of that Butter beer, but I can't. I am sorry I came off a bit rude, I am just having a terrible weekend."

"It's alright Edward," Hagrid said smiling a bit. "I could try to bring some back for you, even if it isn't warm." Edward grinned at him and set down his lunch for a moment. Hagrid snapped his fingers excitedly as if just remembering something. "Um, Edward, you don't mind if I ask a favour of you do you?" he asked.

"No fire away."

"I was wondering if you could come down to my house this evening for a chat. I might get your mind off of what is getting you so glum," he offered.

"Sure, Rubeus, I will do that," Edward confirmed. He picked up his sandwich again and started to eat again.

"Are you sure you can't get that slip signed though? You would be missing a lot of fun conversations there. We always have a blast," Hagrid said again.

"Unfortunately Hagrid, if there was some way to send the slip lightning fast down to Amestris and back I might be able to get it in time, but then again there isn't anyone to sign it," Edward said. All of a sudden the Great Hall fell absolutely silent. The student body seemed to go into a wave of absolute shock as something was happening behind him. A cascade of 'Who's that?' and 'He looks familiar' echoed throughout the room. Severus looked up from his meal and glanced over Edward's shoulder.

"Edward, I think you might be able to get that card signed," Severus said. Edward gave him and awkward look before turning around. The first thing he saw was the golden hair. The second thing he saw was the golden eyes. The third thing he saw was him getting up from the table. The last thing he saw was his metal fist colliding into the jawline of his bastard father. He gave him a good one to say the least and then for extra measure he gave it to him again. The entire crowd was gasping iin complete shock as they watched the son beat his father. After the third go, Edward finally was able to resist from giving him another sock to the nose. He pulled back and hooked his hand around the collar of his father's coat and dragged him out to the hallway. For being his father, Van didn't resist much. Edward pulled him into the Entrance hall and kick slammed the Great Hall doors shut behind him.

…

"Hey, Jean, do you know who that was?" Hagrid asked after Edward stormed out of the hall. He caused a riot of talk in his wake as the students were all trying to describe the events they just saw. Jean shrugged a bit and lifted himself up to reposition himself in his wheel chair.

"I believe that was his father. Van HoenHeim," Jean said.

"Hoenheim?" Alastor asked. He seemingly appeared out of nowhere and sat on the other side of Jean. Havoc glanced at him a little frightened by his sudden appearance. Having a giant blue eye glaring at you from a very short distance was slightly disturbing. "Wouldn't a boy like that share the last name?"

"I am not really the best person to answer this but Edward's mother and his father were never actually married. He doesn't really like to talk about it, not that I really asked though," Jean said.

"Why did he have to be so harsh though?" Hagrid asked still staring at the door where Edward disappeared off to. It was a very quick way to change the conversation. One minute everything is fine, the next Edward is punching the life out of his father. Jean shrugged and searched through his pockets for his cigarettes. He wasn't allowed to smoke them inside the castle because it disturbed the people as well as the paintings, but no one minded if he did it outside.

"His father left him when he was little, I doubt Edward knows any other way how to deal with it," he said. Jean wheeled his chair from the table. "I am going outside if you want to join me," he said rolling down away from the table. "I think that this place might explode at any moment if Edward decides to come back in for his telephones," Jean said motioning to the black rotaries on the table. As Jean went to leave all of the teachers looked to where Snape was sitting quietly near the communication systems. They immediately got up and chased after him.

….

"Are you done yet?" Van asked his son politely. Edward had been raging and insulting him for over five minutes already. They were standing in an empty classroom on the first floor. Supposedly it hasn't been used for years so they would be perfectly safe from intrusion. Edward stopped after hearing his father actually say something for once instead of taking the beating he was giving him.

"No," Edward stated flatly. "1464. How do you explain, 1464? Just last year I found out that you were born in 1464. That isn't possible! Tell me everything! I have been finding a lot of curious things about you here that I need answers to!"

"Edward, that is why I am here."


End file.
